Piet Boon & Range Rover: new generation of leaders
03 November 2022
Interview and video with Piet Boon
Together with Range Rover, Piet Boon focuses on modern luxury: what that new luxury stands for today and where it can be found. As the second face in the ‘New Generation of Leaders’ campaign – following the launch with Sergio Herman, the designer takes the New Range Rover on a tour of ongoing and completed Studio Piet Boon projects. Connected by the same qualities – exuding timelessness, beauty and quality – the tour became an ode to comfort and sustainability.
Quiet start
Piet welcomed the Land Rover team with a cup of morning coffee at his home, a stone’s throw from Amsterdam. A self-designed oasis of peace and balance, where the wonderful garden by master landscape architect Piet Oudolf reinforces that serene feeling once again. “Piet [Oudolf] makes absolutely the most beautiful things there are. For example, the garden changes throughout the year; every week there is something different to see,” says Piet Boon. “And there is also very little maintenance to it,” he adds. An important element that also characterizes Studio Piet Boon’s work.
New leadership
From one-man business to international architecture and design label, that is an impressive success. A big step that requires self-knowledge, authenticity, insight and autonomy. Over the years, Piet Boon therefore learned to constantly adopt profiles that are stronger than himself. “That’s why I can afford to be a casual leader. You can only do that if your team is very, very good.” Indeed, Piet sees himself in his current role more as a tactician on the back deck of the ship: setting the lines but leaving the work to the team. “I have a lot of faith in my teams; I let them be free. At most, I steer them occasionally to keep them on the Piet Boon path of beauty, longevity and comfort.”
Hotel Heaven
Trust that is also essential with the future showpiece in Studio Piet Boon’s oeuvre: the Rosewood Hotel in Amsterdam. Piet describes the assignment – designing a hotel in his own city – as every designer’s dream.Â
He wisely used his baggage as a Zaankant native to bend the pitch to his will and transform the former Palace of Justice on Prinsengracht into a welcoming destination that effortlessly rivals the Rijksmuseum a little further down the road. “We want to make a place for all Amsterdammers. That’s why we placed the hotel’s reception desk only at the end of the main hall. Just as at the Rijksmuseum, you have to walk to the end of the Gallery of Honor to come face to face with Rembrandt.”
Minimalism meets nature
We put the construction helmet in the spacious luggage compartment of the New Range Rover and drive quietly from the heart of Amsterdam to Cromvoirt. In this village in the shadow of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Studio Piet Boon delivered an extraordinary office in 2020 – and immediately won the Architizer award for best single-story office space. To remain in balance with the modernist clubhouse of the golf course under construction, Studio Piet Boon distilled the brief from traditional head-neck-hull farmhouse to a minimalist interpretation of heritage that disappears perfectly into the landscape.
The atmosphere in the office building oscillates between working and living space. “There is such a nice atmosphere here,” says Piet, “When I walk through the building, I have the feeling that I could work here, but also that I could live here.” Indeed, the light and armchairs invite you to stretch out and relax and enjoy the beautiful view of the golf course and surrounding nature. Like so many Studio Piet Boon projects, the realization in Cromvoirt is a deliberate balance between created beauty and the purity of the elements. A pure aesthetic that embodies modern luxury and the ultimate aspiration of the New Generation of Leaders.
"It doesn't get any better."
For Piet Boon, nature remains one of his greatest inspirations while also being his ultimate source of pleasure. An avid mountain biker and kite surfer, Piet demands space and ease of use from, first and foremost, his car. “The design of the New Range Rover is so beautiful and the car is so comfortable. There’s not a single excessive button – they all have a function, and the navigation is top notch. I’m a fan.”
In addition to the New Range Rover’s generous space, Boon also praises the car’s shapes and lines: “Range Rover and Piet Boon share the same DNA of timelessness. When I see a 40-year-old Range Rover passing by, I turn around and think, ‘What a beautiful car.’ But it’s the same with a 10-year-old Range Rover, and that’s pretty unique in the automotive world. It’s a beautiful luxury car without being posh. It doesn’t really get any better than that.”
Long collaboration
The partnership between Piet Boon and Land Rover started in 2006 with an exclusive version of the first-generation Range Rover Sport. Since then, the Dutch designer has worked on many special, unique editions based on the Range Rover, Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Sport and, his personal model, the Defender 90. Always with respect for the original design.
