BART VAN DER LECK, Metz & Co Amsterdam – Den Haag, 1952
31 x 13,2 cm
flex print on paper bag, chord
design for and published by Metz & Co, Amsterdam / The Hague
condition: good
€ 225,- plus € 15,- Track & Trace EU registered mail
inv.BvdL 000-pr

Since 1900 Metz & Co. had been under the far-sighted management of J. de Leeuw, who imported the internationally renown Liberty fabrics from London. In the 1920s he introduced stylish, deluxe furniture from Paris and Vienna while gradually taking on more Dutch industrial artists. De Leeuw’s introduction to Rietveld and the painter Bart van der Leck around 1930 brought renewed vigour to the store. Van der Leck designed the firm’s logo as well as an assortment of bags and boxes in his inimitable style of fragmented letterforms with primary colours, all properly reflecting Metz & Co.’s combination of exclusivity and the avant-garde.

The bag’s restraint and air of modernity look is still striking and fresh. On the one hand, the design is applied with a sleek and understated elegance at the bottom of the paper bag, like a sort of stamp. On the other hand, the lettering within the two rectangles is applied decoratively in a refined manner, using lines and blocks.

Metz & Co was a firm specialized in furniture, textiles, and arts and crafts.