Dom Hans van der Laan: A Visual Silence

September 8th - October 21st, 2023

Form Atelier is pleased to present Dom Hans van der Laan: A Visual Silence, opening Friday, September 8th, 2023.

This will be the first US exhibition focusing on the furniture of Dutch Benedictine monk, architect, and leading figure of the Bossche School, Dom Hans van der Laan (1904 - 1991).

Within the confines of the monastery, uninfluenced by discussions in the world of architecture and design, van der Laan developed a new vision for architecture.

Not perceiving the golden ratio to be relevant to the field, van der Laan developed a theory of the ‘plastic number’, which he developed over decades by methodically studying the rhythms, rules and proportions found in nature. The mathematics of beauty.

Approached from a philosophical, theological and technological perspective, his architecture and furniture examines the primeval origin of architectural principles and the fundamental essence of the form. On both a theoretical and practical level, van der Laan sought to give significance and importance to simplicity. A voice to silence, a form to the void.

If van der Laan’s innovative work is characterized by an all embracing simplicity, numbers are the only decoration present. These numbers govern all formal choices and establish a relationship between the parts but, once used, disappear without a trace, leaving only the invisible harmony that permeates.

View our Dom Hans van der Laan collection online here.

Additional information on the work of Dom Hans van der Laan can be found here.

Dom Hans van der Laan: A Visual Silence opens Friday, September 8th, 2023 and will remain on view through October 21st, 2023.