Pilat & Pilat

Gjalt Pilat is from a family of fourteen children. The outside world knows them and many other relatives, as the furniture of the Famylje Collection is named after them. His wife Diny is the driving force in the background. Gjalt Pilat likes to use the materials he is working with in their purest form. Important visual elements are the joints between the various parts. The choices to be made are the result of the need for simplicity and structuring, the love of the trade, as well as the materials. His furniture is characterised by robust austerity.

Kristien Pilat, who is married to Ian, has been with the company since 2001. They are both passionate about classic Citroën cars. As well as speaking Frisian, Dutch and English, Kristien is fluent in the Norwegian language. Kristien Pilat has specialised in designing children's furniture with Frisian names, bearing in mind the production features inherent to Pilat&Pilat furniture. In her designs for children, the need for security and nourishing are paramount. The children's furniture gives a sense of stability. In her work, Kristien Pilat is using the trade and tradition in a contemporary manner.

Peter Tromop has been with Pilat & Pilat as a designer since 2001. His affinity with the materials and the manufacturing methods are decisive factors to him. He lives in a building that used to be a school. Peter Tromop is not part of the Pilat family, allowing his designs to remain more independent from the family tradition. He is using all the Pilat&Pilat style characteristics in his own way, introducing unexpected solutions in the Famylje Collection models

As a visual artist, Trude van Assem has a great affinity with design work. In her free work, furniture is often becoming a reason to create a form. It means that the visual image comes first for Van Assem. Her passion for wood makes her feel at home with Pilat&Pilat. She has been with the company for quite a few years, keeps track of new developments and turns usable ideas into designs. She also puts together exhibitions of works from talented artists for Pilat & Pilat Interieur and Herberg De Waard van Ternaard.

Ron Drijver and Annelies have two children: Jonas and Nique. Ron has been with Pilat & Pilat since 2002. He has been travelling all over the world before he joined the company. Based on his attitude and experience, he believes that one should create one's own opportunities. At Pilat, Ron is responsible for international sales. He is the liaison officer for international agents and looks into developing new sales channels. He traces the needs of the market and takes note of the comments made by dealers.

Carin Rijpstra has been with the company since 2007. Previously she has been working for the Pilat en Pilat Interieur shop for a number of years, so she knows the collection inside out. She started her career as a flight attendant with KLM for ten years. She is married to Pieter Jan and has two children: son Rens and daughter Sofie. She is the liaison officer for dealers nationwide. She is in charge of increasing the dealer network with outlets that fit in with the company philosophy. She also presents the new models at trade fairs.

Joke Sinnema has been a sales assistant and in charge of public relations since 2008. Joke was born and bred in Ternaard on the north Frisian coast and now lives in the city of Groningen. After completing her business economics study at the School for Higher Vocational Education, she started her career as a financial adviser for a housing corporation. Her affinity with interior design made her move to Pilat & Pilat. The beautiful collection, pleasant co-workers and dealings with customers add much to the enjoyment of her work.

Jan Henk van der Velde and his wife Kristien are living in the settlement of Nietap, in the northern part of the province of Drenthe. Jan Henk studied business economics at the School for Higher Vocational Education. He has been with Pilat & Pilat since 2001. He carefully monitors every product, using the computer. He takes the order and prepares an order form for NordEnt. NordEnt provides an insight into the overall production schedule. From choosing the wood, bonding and assembling parts, through to drying the model, sanding, soaping or oiling, and finally dispatching. For that reason Jan Henk is familiar with all details of the production process, allowing him to inform the customer accordingly in a timely manner. Jan Henk is even tracking the product while on its way to the customer. Part of his job is calculating the price of custom-made products, in consultation with the production team.

Wietske van der Woude started working for Pilat in 1998 as a trainee of the Art and Design faculty of the School for Higher Vocational Education. Her major subject was textile. Since 2001 she has been working in her current part-time position for two days a week. When not at work, she looks after her family, consisting of husband Hans and three daughters. As a baby, the second daughter has been without her mother for a couple of days when Wietske joined the team for a trip to Bosnia to attend the festive opening of the factory. Her job has somewhat changed following the new developments within the company. She is now assisting Jan Henk with the order administration, among other things.

Peter Smids is responsible for the financial administration of the overall Holding, including the subsidiary NordEnt in Bosnia. He is also in charge of the payroll administration for Pilat & Pilat personnel. As a financial jack-of-all-trades, Peter looks after tax returns and keeps in touch with accountants, banks and insurance companies. Peter joined the company in 1998. He has two children: Marie and Johan.

Pieter Slager has been out and about quite a bit. After learning carpentry and metalwork at Junior Technical School, he went on to study architecture and civil engineering at Intermediate Technical School. Pieter is a versatile man. As well as being a furniture maker, he also has an affection for farming, especially for chickens and pheasants. He and his wife Anneke have a son and a daughter. When he first started working for Pilat & Pilat in 1992, the company employed four furniture makers. Within the company, Pieter helped several students who were trained by Pilat. In the end, the production was in the hands of ten furniture makers. Pieter is one of the two furniture makers since the production has been relocated to Bosnia. Pieter is responsible for service and repairs, and he shares his thoughts about constructive solutions as well as the most efficient production methods.

Klaas-Albert Leistra completed the intermediate bakery trade school and that is still showing. He always first smells his bread before he carefully takes a bite. But then he decided to apply to the centre for vocational education to be retrained. That was because he was unable to reconcile the working hours of the baking industry with his family life. With his wife Hilda he has two children: daughter Elsina and son Janco. Klaas-Albert has been with Pilat & Pilat since 1999. Apart from producing custom-made furniture, he also delivers it to customers and puts right any problems that may occur. Customer contacts appeal to him in particular.

Zarko Mandir has been working for Pilat & Pilat since 1996. He was trained at the centre for vocational education and started as a trainee with Pilat. Zarko came to the Netherlands from Bosnia in 1992. To escape the violence in their home country, his wife Sandra first arrived in the Netherlands. Their children aged 3 and 2 arrived after two months, followed by Zarko. Zarko supports the development of the factory in Bosnia. Speaking the language and knowing the local customs are a tremendous help in dealing with Bosnian people.

Sjoukje Noordstra has been working for Pilat for no less that 18 years. She started working for the company when her 30-year old daughter Marjan was only 12... Sjoukje has also two sons: Albert and Gerard. Her husband is the monumental designer Heine. Sjoukje has been trained to become a tailor's cutter. Rather than fitting people's clothes, she is now in the business of fitting "clothes" for furniture. Lut Pilat, who had been her workmate for a while, showed her the ropes of upholstery skills. Every now and again a co-worker asks her to produce a replica of a completely worn-out piece of upholstery…