05 October 2017

ARCO NETHERLAND, NICO’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Arco stalwart Nico Bouwhuis has been working at the Dutch table specialist in Winterswijk for a remarkable half a century, now under the third managing director. All his bosses so far have been members of the van Ast family. He first joined the Van Ast frame factory under managing director Gerrit van Ast. In the 1970s, he worked for Gerrit’s uncles Wim and Wout when the frame factory became part of their Arco furniture factory. Nico started out as a temp and in subsequent years, with Wim van Ast at the helm, focusing increasingly on modern design, he became a machine operator before moving to the dispatch department. Arco tables not only conquered The Netherlands but became increasingly successful abroad, and Nico and his colleagues sent packages all over Europe.

To this day – under the management of Jorre van Ast, son of Wim and thus part of the fourth generation – Nico Bouwhuis appreciates the open and down-to-earth working atmosphere in which each individual employee is esteemed. This approach has also enabled the company to withstand economic crises. Although Nico describes himself and the van Asts as dyed-in-the-wool “Achterhoekers”, he is proud of the international success that the locally-rooted company has achieved in the industry. He loves the furniture trade fairs in Cologne and Milan, the regular company excursions by the entire Arco team – be it to Berlin, Dresden or Prague – and the Arco Dealer Days, when the production halls in Winterswijk are alive with international flair.
The Essenza model launched in 1999 is still his absolute favourite. His son, who recently worked at Arco over the summer holidays putting the finishing touches to the feet for the Essenza product line, also loves this design: one day he came home and said “When I get married, I’d like the Essenza table too.” The table is available in various sizes (maximum length: 280 cm) and can be used not only in the dining room but also in office spaces, where it can be combined with Arco cable feed-through and cable management features. About Arco The family-run company is located in Winterswijk, in the Achterhoek region of the Netherlands, near the German border. Since as far back as 1904, the company has been designing, developing and producing tables, chairs, cabinets, small items of furniture and accessories in-house, mainly from locally sourced materials.
For more information contact Mrs Sabine Spierenburg:

ARCO Meubelfabriek BV
Jony van den Mosselaar Parallelweg 2-III
NL-7102 DE WINTERSWIJK / Netherland
Ph. +31(0) 543 546575
E-mail: press@arco.nl