Kho Liang Ie Archival Pieces on Display at the Stedelijk Museum Kho Liang Ie Archival Pieces on Display at the Stedelijk Museum

Kho Liang Ie emigrated from Indonesia to the Netherlands in 1949. In Amsterdam, he began studying at the Institute for Applied Arts Education (later the Gerrit Rietveld Academie), where architects Hein Salomonson and Johan Niegemann taught him the principles of functionalism. After graduating, Kho began working as an information officer, advisor and exhibition curator at Goed Wonen, a foundation that promoted modern, functional home furnishings.

In 1956, Kho left Goed Wonen, possibly because his views on functionalism had become freer and more idiosyncratic by then than those considered exemplary by Goed Wonen. He then began collaborating with graphic designer Wim Crouwel, designing furniture, exhibitions and stands for companies until 1959. In 1957, he joined the furniture manufacturer Artifort. As well as designing furniture, he served as the brand’s ‘aesthetic advisor’. Kho was one of the first designers to conceive design as an all-encompassing concept, rather than limiting himself to designing individual pieces of furniture. He is therefore one of the pioneers in the field of corporate identity.

Kho Liang Ie started his own agency in 1959. In 1965, interior architect Nel Verschuuren, an interior architect familiar with Kho’s work for Goed Wonen, applied for a position at the agency. Three years later, Kho Liang Ie, Nel Verschuuren and Tinus van de Kerkhof established the firm Kho Liang Ie Associates. The firm created large-scale interiors for exhibitions, trade fairs, museums, hotels, theatres, office buildings and two airports.

Kho’s emphasis on functionality earned him the commission to design the interior of the new Schiphol Airport in 1962. This included everything from the seating areas and counters to the wall tiling, ashtrays and suspended ceilings, as well as the signage, which he designed with Benno Wissing of Total Design. The result demonstrates his integrated design vision, in which the architectural requirements of the building merge with the interior design and wayfinding. All of this was executed in a clear, austere style that exuded calm and harmony. The new Schiphol building, designed by architect Marius Duintjer, opened in 1967.

On display at the Stedelijk exhibition is the wood-bound Schiphol book created by Kho Liang Ie in 1974. It contains interior photographs, design studies, handwritten commentary and two design drawings. The book was intended as a presentation piece for UNESCO. The book has been specifically restored for the exhibition.

Following Kho’s death in 1975, Verschuuren took the helm of the firm. She was involved in the design, redesign and expansion of Schiphol for decades, gradually phasing out the firm’s activities in 2005.

Kho Liang Ie’s paper archive was largely lost in a flood in 1979. The surviving material was acquired by the Nieuwe Instituut as the Verschuuren, N. (Nel) – Kho Liang Ie Associates (NVER) archive. This archive contains material relating to Schiphol, among other things.

The Goed Wonen designs that have been loaned come from the archive of interior architect Coen de Vries (1918–2018), with whom Kho collaborated, and who was also part of the Goed Wonen network. Both were also members of the Dutch Federation of Industrial Designers (NIDf).

The exhibition Kho Liang Ie - Mid-Century Modernist is on view from 14 May to 18 October at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.