DESIGNED BY ELMAR BERKOVICH FOR METZ & CO, EARLY 1940S

Elmar Berkovich (1897) was trained as a cabinet maker in his native Budapest. In 1921 he fled to the Netherlands and one year later he became head of the furniture workshop of Metz & Co. Berkovich became a major protagonist of modernism and the person guiding the furniture department of Metz & Co. He maintained contacts with Marcel Breuer and Gerrit Rietveld amongst others. The latter built a house for Berkovich. He translated the furniture experiments of progressive artists in executable designs. In Berkovich' designs for furniture and lighting the Bauhaus influence is clearly visible. He made furniture catalogues, provided the designs of exhibition stands and carried out interior decoration assignments. From 1930 Berkovich regularly publihed articles about the modern interior design in magazines such as Binnenhuis, De vrouw en haar huis and De Delver. After World War II Berkovich left Metz and became interior decorator at the Lichtadviesbureau of Philips. Berkovich, who deceased in 1968, was one of the leading interior designers of the Netherlands in the period 1920-1970.