Model maker Willy Hul has been with Artifort since 1962; he arrived as an apprentice at the age of 14. Computer modeling has changed the way new products are developed, and from a high of nine people in his department, he now works alone. But “the first model is still made by hand,” he points out. He speaks with a sense of ownership about the products he has helped to create in his workshop, which is strewn with fabric swatches, pieces of foam and the bare shell of a Paulin chair. “The most important thing is still seating comfort,” he says. “He tells people, please come and have a seat,” laughs Trudi van Kammen, who heads up customer service. “He goes to small people and big people to see if it is comfortable.” Hul’s input is important and he knows it; he will negotiate with designers to slightly alter a form or an angle if he thinks that will improve the design or work better for fabrication. Paulin’s Ribbon chair is his favorite. “It has charisma,” he says. “If you see it, you don’t think that you want to sit in it, but it’s very comfortable. Paulin first made it out of a folded piece of paper.” Hul’s house is filled with Artifort furniture; he kept his favorite prototypes in his attic for years, until he returned them recently for the archives. His choice for relaxing is the 905 sofa from 1964; there is no designer’s name attached to it. It is simply by Artifort.

“Artifort’s achievement was to encourage and celebrate their originators almost to the point where they were treated like gods, to where any flight of fancy was heralded as the next masterpiece,” says Harcourt. “Most of the time it worked well, other times mistakes were made, but the overall quality of the products that came through and lasted for years was of the very first order, such that they still appeal after half a century.” It remains to be seen whether the furniture Artifort produces today will have the same staying power, but with one eye to its venerable past and another to the future, it stands an excellent chance.