or since has ever been remotely like the Artifort of that time.”

That is not to say that Artifort had done nothing of note beforehand. The company was founded in 1890 by Jules Wagemans in Maastricht as an upholstery workshop; it began fabricating furniture in 1920, under the direction of Wageman’s son, Henricus. He joined forces in 1927 with Hayo van Tuinen, forming the firm of H. Wagemans & Van Tuinen. Their early style was influenced by the Amsterdam School and French Art Deco: solid, sober geometries. In an attempt to build their business during the worldwide economic depression that hit Holland in 1929, and would cut national production nearly in half, the pair came up with what they hoped would be an marketable new name: Artifort, derived from the Latin words for “art” and “powerful.”

In 1930, they obtained the license for a patented continuous coil steel spring technology called Epeda, then in use for mattresses and car seats, and adapted it to furniture. Replacing the traditional hard, lumpy fillings of straw, kapok and horse hair and the occasional iron springs, the new springs provided both greater seating comfort and more efficient fabrication. In 1936, furniture craftsman Theo Ruth became head of design and development. Under his direction, Artifort undertook successful