The third part of our VDF collaboration with Dutch furniture company Lensvelt saw designer Joep van Lieshout discuss his work for the brand in conversation with Hans Lensvelt and Marcus Fairs.

Van Lieshout, who founded his studio Atelier van Lieshout in 1995, is one of this year's Dezeen Awards judges. His work spans art, design and architecture.

For our VDF collaboration with the brand, van Lieshout spoke to Lensvelt's director Hans Lensvelt, a big fan of van Lieshout's work who has collected many of his pieces.

The Dutch designer has created a number of products for Lensvelt, many of which have become "modern classics in the interior design industry," the brand said. These include the AVL Shaker and AVL Office Chair.

"The collaboration between Joep and Lensvelt has a lot of history and fun, resulting in the most beautiful, original and best-selling products of Lensvelt," the brand said.

As well as furniture, Atelier van Lieshout designs more abstract pieces. For Design Miami 2015, the studio created an inhabitable sculpture that is a cross between a luxury lounge and a primitive dwelling.

In 2017, Van Lieshout's controversial sculpture Domestikator was shown at the Centre Pompidou after being pulled by the Louvre.

Van Lieshout was born in Brabant but runs Atelier van Lieshout from a warehouse in Rotterdam, where he declared an independent state, AVL-Ville, for a 2001 project. AVL-Ville was "a free state in the Rotterdam harbour, with a minimum of rules, a maximum of liberties, and the highest degree of autarky," the studio said.

Among Atelier van Lieshout's designs for Lensvelt are the AVL Office Chair, AVL Lazy Modernist, AVL Spider chair and AVL workbench, shown as part of the Virtual Design Festival products fair.

Dezeen founder and editor-in-chief Fairs also took part in the discussion, which was part of our wider collaboration with Lensvelt for Virtual Design Festival. This included Screentime interviews with designers Maarten Baas, and Fabio Novembre, all of which have designed products for the brand.

About Virtual Design Festival

Virtual Design Festival runs from 15 April to 10 July 2020. It brings the architecture and design world together to celebrate the culture and commerce of our industry, and explore how it can adapt and respond to extraordinary circumstances.

To find out what's coming up at VDF, check out the schedule. For more information or to join the mailing list, email [email protected]