‘t Spectrum, furniture factory in Bergeyk. The furniture factory ‘t Spectrum was established in 1941 as a subsidiary of weaving mill De Ploeg and operated until 1974. The company was directed by Piet Blijenburg from De Ploeg, who was later assisted by Roelof van Daalen who took over when the two companies separated in 1962. Initially, robustness and usability were the main priorities during the period of post-war reconstruction. Willem van Gelderen supervised the designs until 1950, after which Martin Visser became the chief designer. Visser appointed others such as Friso Kramer, Hein Stolle and Constant Nieuwenhuijs. Visser himself designed the well-known sofa bed and other furniture. The production was mostly outsourced to others. Otto Treumann and Teun Teunissen van Manen designed the printed matter. ‘T Spectrum was having financial difficulties and was liquidated. Several former employees continued under the name of Arspect until 1986. Two years later, Harry Verhoeven and Piet van Eijken revived it by putting old models into production again and adding new designs as well.

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The Dutch version of this biography is taken from the book Visies op vormgeving, het Nederlandse ontwerpen in teksten deel 2: 1940-2000 (2008) by Frederike Huygen. The following sources have been used for this biography:
– Clarijs, J. ’t Spectrum. Moderne meubelvormgeving en naoorlogs idealisme’, Rotterdam 2002.