The same day I visited Designersblock, I stopped to another very special venue of the London Design Week for an exhibition about Dutch mid-century furniture at the Rocket Gallery.

The majority of the events during the London Design Week were about contemporary design but I spotted a very interesting exhibition at this gallery titled “Revolt, Reform, Result.”

The Rocket is a seventeen years old gallery specialized in arts from the twentieth century: you can check the past exhibitions on their website here. It’s a pity I didn’t discover it before.

Apparently they have a preference for the European mid-century design and during the London Design Week 2011 they showed a collection of Dutch mid-century furniture by Friso Kramer, Wim Rietveld, Martin Visser, Cees Braakman, Rudolf Wolf and others.

The influence of Gerrit Rietveld and De Stijl Dutch movement clearly inspired the mid-century Dutch designers to create rational and functional furniture: almost severe.

You can expect to see those chairs and cabinets in schools, public offices, hospitals and I often spotted them during my thrifting tours around Amsterdam: specially the Tomado shelves system below.

(images © Paul Tucker / Courtesy Rocket Gallery, London)

I truly appreciate the Dutch mid-century designs because they represent the perfect combination of form and function: rational, functional and affordable at the same time. Dutch people are practical, indeed.

The gallery has also a shop where you can find amazing European mid-century furniture, prints and books.

The London Design Week ended but this exhibition goes on until the November 27, 2011 so if you go to London during the next two months, plan a visit there; I definitely recommend it!

I will write more about the London Design Week 2011 soon, but would you like to know more about Dutch mid-century design?
Let it me know in the comments!