Kramer, Friso

Friso Kramer (Amsterdam, August 13, 1922) is a Dutch industrial designer. Kramer is the son of the Amsterdam School architect Piet Kramer. He studied interior design at the Institute for Applied Arts Education in Amsterdam, among other institutions. In 1945, he joined Bureau JP Kloos. At that time, he also collaborated with Frans Paulussen in an interior design firm. From 1948 to 1963, he worked at De Cirkel, where steel furniture was manufactured. In 1963, he founded the design agency Total Design together with Wim Crouwel, Benno Wissing, Paul, and Dick Schwartz . From 1971 to 1983, he was director of the design agency Ahrend. One of Kramer’s most famous works is the conical street lamp (post-top) fixture. This fixture was originally designed for The Hague but enjoyed great popularity elsewhere in the country. Kramer also designed two street lamps for The Hague, namely the “Friso Kramer I” (for residential streets) and the “Friso Kramer II” (for access roads). Almost all of them have since disappeared from The Hague. The “Friso Kramer I” can only be found in a few locations. Incidentally, all Kramer lamps were produced by Industria. A retrospective exhibition of his work was held in 1977 and 1978 at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and in 1991 at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Kramer served on the boards of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the Amsterdam Arts Council, among other places. He is an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau.