Niko Spelbrink
Dutch design heritage
BRS (1969-1991)
From 1969 Niko Spelbrink was a partner at BRS maatschap voor vormgevers Amsterdam, together with Jan Brinkman, Guus Ros and Edo Smitshuijzen.
BRS grew in those 22 years into one of the leading multi-disciplinary consultancies in the Netherlands. This timespan is characterised by its vitality, its innovative and technological advance which led to what is now widely celebrated as ‘Dutch Design’. Major clients were: Nederlandse Gasunie, Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken, TNO, NWO, NIROV, Lumiance, Haarlems Dagblad, Open Universiteit, Gemeente Den Haag.
Later, BRS merged with architects Benno Premsela and Jan Vonk to form BRS Premsela Vonk. Now the former partnership evolved and kept up with the times. It is the Amsterdam office of the international EdenSpiekermann consultancy with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, San Francisco, Singapore and Stuttgart.
Melbourne (1991- present)
In 1991 Niko Spelbrink retired from BRS and moved to Melbourne, Australia. Where he became a founding partner of design consultancy Ography. In addition he taught for over thirty years at RMIT University where he was engaged in training third year students in Typographic Design for print and screen applications.
Dutch Graphic Roots is a series of online publications and aims at generating attention to the roots of Dutch graphic design culture. Read the complete Roots article about Ton Haak on dutchgraphicroots.nl.
Portrait photo: Aatjan Renders