Gelderlander by Christien Meindertsma | Fabric Horses

About the Gelderlander

The Gelderlander is a horse made of fabric, built from the selvedges left over when upholstery fabric is cut. The selvedge forms the mane, the warp threads pulled from the cloth become the tail, and under each leg sits a small wooden claw from the furniture production. It is a design by Christien Meindertsma, made on behalf of furniture manufacturer Gelderland and produced today by Kuperus & Gardenier.

Every horse is one of a kind

Furniture maker Gelderland has been making sofas and chairs since 1936. Cutting the upholstery fabric leaves strips along the sides: the selvedges. Christien Meindertsma was asked by Gelderland what could be done with them, and the answer turned out to be a horse. Because every horse comes from a different fabric, no two are alike, and which colours exist depends on what the factory has left over that week. That is why we photograph every horse separately.

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Made from the same fabric

The same offcuts also become the Pigeon Service, the fabric pigeon, and the Bird t., the fabric sparrow.

The horse behind the name

The Gelderlander is a powerful warm-blooded breed, known for its reliability and its long life. It was bred in the province of Gelderland as a versatile work and police horse, and is still used as a carriage horse at the Royal Stables. Meindertsma gave the fabric of furniture maker Gelderland the shape of the horse that gave the same region its name.

Thomas Eyck

Thomas Eyck took care of the production and included the Gelderlander in his collection t.e. After his death in 2023, Jan Kuperus and Rienk Gardenier took a number of these designs on so that they would not be lost.

Details

• Brand: Kuperus & Gardenier
• Design: Christien Meindertsma
• Material: selvedges of upholstery fabric from furniture maker Gelderland
• Mane: the selvedge of the fabric
• Tail: the warp threads pulled from the cloth
• Filling: offcuts from the production of the sofas
• Dimensions: 35 × 6 × 30 cm (l × w × h)
• Made in: the Netherlands

About Christien Meindertsma

Christien Meindertsma studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven and explores in her work where materials come from. Her work is held in the collections of MoMA, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Vitra Design Museum. Read more about her work on the page of Kuperus & Gardenier.