Arco

Dutch company Arco has been produc­ing tables and other modern furni­ture pieces for decades. The family-owned busi­ness began in the early 20th century as a frame manu­fac­turer and glass trader. In 1927, Wouter van Ast moved his busi­ness to a new factory in Winter­swijk, where the Arco facil­ity still stands. When his son Arend Cornelis took over at the start of World War II, the company started shift­ing its focus to furni­ture produc­tion. Wood was in short supply, so Arco used mate­r­ial made by shred­ding orange crates to form chip­board. High-quality chip­board is still used in the manu­fac­tur­ing process today.

Arend’s brother, Willem van Ast, joined the company in 1967 and intro­duced a focus on modernism. He engaged outside collab­o­ra­tors, espe­cially contem­po­rary designer Arnold Merckx, to estab­lish a new focus for the brand and develop furni­ture that would replace the brand’s exist­ing offer­ings. Today, Jorre van Ast leads the family-owned busi­ness. He is commit­ted to contin­u­ing to expand the company’s offer­ings, further define its aesthetic point of view, and uphold the stan­dards of quality and manu­fac­tur­ing excel­lence for which the company is known.

Tables have long been the company’s focus, though it also offers compli­men­tary pieces like chairs and consoles. Arco limits its carbon foot­print by working with part­ners close to its factory. The Local Wood collec­tion features prod­ucts made entirely with wood that is sourced locally in the Nether­lands and nearby Germany. Trees that need to be felled to main­tain the health of the forest for contin­ued sustain­able growth are used for the line. The brand cele­brates the natural quality of the wood by high­light­ing the color and texture differ­ences that make each product unique. Context Gallery has been a trusted partner with Arco for a decade.