Timeless and fitting

The little post – or so the A’dammer is also called. Indeed, the low, slim-line storage cabinet from designer Aldo van den Nieuwelaar does resemble the Amsterdam sidewalk post so characteristic of the city streets. It was not only the cabinet’s eye-catching design that made it one of the best-selling Dutch furniture items ever. One notable feature was the ribbed roll-down shutter used to open and close the cabinet. The A’dammer was even the first cabinet with a one-piece roll-down shutter. This plastic door literally disappeared when the cabinet was opened. The deep ridges in the roll-down shutter provided a grip at any height.

The A’dammer was immediately embraced by the public when it was introduced in 1978. Van den Nieuwelaar’s (1944) revolutionary design was also recognised by various design awards, including the ASID award (1980) and the prestigious Kho Liang-Ie prize (1986). The cabinet was purchased by prominent museums such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the municipal museum of The Hague, and the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin. Today, the A’dammer has the status of a modern icon for both national and international design. The storage cabinet received a place of honour in the seminal work 20th Century Dutch Design and the international design bible 1000 Design Classics from Phaidon Press.

Yet the best proof of the A’dammer ’s timeless quality is its appeal to an entirely new generation, says Annemarie Bernasco, head of marketing at Pastoe. “In the 1970s, the cabinet usually stood in the living room, later to be moved into a study or den. Sometimes the A’dammer even ended up in the garage as a handy shelf. But it was hardly ever left out on the pavement. Then the cabinet often took on a new function once the kids left home for university. Once they had outgrown cramped student quarters, the A’dammer made its way back to the living rooms of the second generation of users as an undisputed design classic.”

The A’dammer is a design of timeless beauty and perfectly attuned to Pastoe’s well-chosen design vision. Quality and aesthetic durability – the A’dammer has both those attributes. As this year marks exactly thirty years since Pastoe introduced the A’dammer, we’re having a celebration! We would like to have you join in the festivities. So we have set up several special promotions around the A’dammer’s 30th anniversary.