Ben Swildens |
Born in 1938 in the Netherlands, Ben Swildens lived in Maghreb. His father was an architect. He settled in Morocco to work with some Americans. In Morocco, at the age of 13, Ben Swildens discovered perfumes, palm trees and dreams. In 1956, his family moved to the international zone of Tangiers. At the American school he learned Arabic and Spanish. Watching his father enjoying drawing, Swildens decided to imitate him. Swildens, a hard worker, became the best among his fellow students. Soon he was sent to Switzerland to study engineering, while staying with Jean Tschumi. Yet Swildens disliked mathematics; thus he moved to Paris and attended the school of decorative arts where he graduated in 1961.
After finishing school in Paris, he had a fantastic period of his life meeting talented people and working with them. In the early 60s, Ben Swildens meets Jérôme Savary, who eventually became an important theatre man, and Jean-Paul Goude, the inventor of the graphic style jungle. Swildens also met the painters like Rougemont and Michel Quarez. “We dabbled in all sorts of things,” said Swildens. These gifted students worked with the significant creative craftsmen of that time period such as Arbus and Poillerat, who also were their teachers. Several private companies recruited the students in order to work with innovative thinkers and often organized competitions as well.
After a brief stay in New York, Ben Swildens returned to Paris and started working with Joseph-André Motte, the decorator of Orly and Maison de la Radio. Here he designed the President’s round desk. Max Ingrand led him for this job. “We had done tons of competitions and had won dozens of them! Max Ingrand was extraordinary. He got up at five o’clock in the morning, did drawings until nine o’clock and then went out to take care of his business. He had a workshop with 50 people. He was the artistic director of Saint-Gobain and Fontana Arte. He then asked me to design objects for commercial use. This was when I created my Egg lamp and an articulated lamp,” Swildens recalled.
After his collaboration with Max Ingrand, Ben Swildens started working on several architectural projects.
IMPORTANT DATES
1938 - Born in Amsterdam
1951 - Settled in Morocco
1961 - Graduated from Arts Déco and architecture in Paris
1962 - 1969 : Collaboration with Max Ingrand for several projects such as: Peugeot headquarters, EDF, CCF
Lima airport
Beirut Parliament
Museum of Geneva
Universal Expo in Seattle and Montreal
1965 - Married to Dominique Goutal
1966 - Creation of the “Egg” lamp
1970 - Birth of his daughter Juliette
1972 - Co-Creation of « Bonpoint »
Arrangement of store network
1985 - Creation of Ben Swildens Design
Architecture of individual homes
2010 - Sculptures
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