about peter

All designs made by Peter van de Water are based on a single strong idea. These ideas are made into a recognizable, sometimes iconic design. The road from this idea to the final product is looking for that perfect combination of aesthetics, function & construction, all in close collaboration with his valued clients. Designs should be contemporary, but also need to have a timeless quality. With every new design, the goal is to design a product that will last. There is no guarantee for a design, becoming a classic. But in regards to durability, a design should last for many years in production, construction and also in appearance. In the near future he sees sustainability as the biggest challenge and obligation for the furniture industry. His mantra is to keep focussing on what we can do, instead on what we can't do. Be progressive, be opportunistic, but most important, act. It is also an adventurous path, looking for new solutions, discover new techniques, be aware of the consequences of the choices you make, learn. Sustainable designs should also be desirable, he love’s Bjarke Ingels “hedonistic sustainability” approach.
He is calling for his industry to keep on addressing, designing and producing more and more sustainable, and make this the “The new normal”. It is simply a new requirement besides, aesthetics, function & construction.

For Peter van de Water, designing is a constant learning process, with every step the foundation gets stronger. This growth is visible in his work, starting his career with clean minimalistic designs evolving to more detailled and sculptural shapes in the recent years. He uses the metaphor of starting his career with a white cube. At the start he would make one intervention, cut off one corner of the cube, to make it more intriguing. Step by step he was able to cut of more corners, shape the cube more and more, moving closer and closer to a sphere. 
The thought that best is yet to come, keeps him highly motivated to do what he loves most. Making new designs. He loves making scale models, sketches, renderings and prototypes. All of this in his design studio in his beloved neighborhood Oud-west in Amsterdam.

Furniture designs by Peter van de Water are produced by a growing number of furniture brands as Gispen, Cascando, Label vandenberg, Banne, Goods, New Duivendrecht, Odesi & TossB. His designs have been exhibited, sold, selected, awarded & published at the mayor furniture fairs, venues, awards and magazines. To name a few, Salone Milano, Orgatec Cologne, Imm Cologne, Interieur Kortrijk, MoMa design store in NY & Tokyo, DDW Eindhoven, Wallpaper magazine, Frame and Damn magazine.

-Dutch design award winner with Gispen in 2019 for the Sett CE sofa.
-Archiproduct design award for the Bloom outdoor chair.
-Archiproduct sustainable award for Bloom outdoor chair.
-German design award nomination for Team seating elements.
-Selected by Rosanna Orlandi for the Guiltless plastic tour with Bloom.

Peter van de Water ( Born in Mierlo ) studied Architecture & spatial design at  the art-school st.Joost in Breda and graduated in 1994. 
In 2000 he started his own design office for interior design and furniture design. The last few years he is totally focussed on furniture and product design.