The Castor KEVI Timeless Design of Denmark ID Pritze 1969 | Numerous dead copies drive out the original and become mainstream. | Compatible twin wheel makes a structural principle. | Immortal masterpiece’s review in 1965 – 1990 JOINT-SYSTEM-28

阿部蔵之｜木とジョイントの専門家

There is something unknown and invisible influence on furniture design works. Nobody realizes that something of image-binding in KEVI double wheel covered the housing and the shifted stem.
Always a new car requires a new wheel-design. A wheel design makes an impact on modeling image of the upper-part.
But now, Rasmussen’s design has achieved an international standard.
Masterpiece will stay alive as a design principle in the future.

KEVI Caster Original Design 1965

Features;

・Danish simple modern timeless design
・High stability & durability double wheel structure
・Smooth turning with independent running twin nylon wheels and steel ball in the end of the stem
・Wide-range of applications fully adapted to floor requirements made with independent compatible wheel and stem with locking devices
・Available for wide design variations with common parts
・Relieved upper-thing loaded to wheel shaft fixed in molded housing by superior structural balance and outer shifted stem’s position which makes well contact with floor
・Can be disassembled with screw, easy cleaning and repairing of parts
・Fit to TATAMI matt, parquet floor, and woven soft material with optional urethane rubber wheel
・High quality, but high initial cost

Original specification has been changed for economic one-molding type in ABS resin since 1980, and the housing structure could not be disassembled.

Body’s images are characterized by wheel.

S; Body style Whats’s what A visual Glossary of the Physical World. （ Japanese edition by Shogakukan Co.,Ltd.）1985

■ The History of KEVI Castor made in Denmark

– Design by Jørgen Rasmussen Produced by KEVI A/S and Fritz Hansen A/S

1950s

– Produced a typing table with legs welded to twin castors added mobility, produced in 1950s by KEVI

– Appeared the idea of double wheel castor in 1947

1965
– Developed new type castor for KEVI’s office furniture design by Architect Jørgen Rasmussen

1969

– Twin castor: won the Design ID-Pritze /1969

1970

-KEVI A/S lost the desk factory in fire

-Introduced the twin-wheel castor with cover the first of its kind on the world market

-1971

Special article「 Kevi’s castor –, developing a detail 」 text by Torben Schmidt.

「mobillia」No.194 Danish Furniture Design Magazine

– Newly released KEVI castors in Interzum Messe (Köln) by Häfele trading company in West Germany

-Häfele published complete catalog in German, English, French, and Spanish in 1972.

1972

– Exported the first KEVI castors to Japan by IWAKURA Engineering, Co., Ltd. Tokyo
Selected European good design products by President Toru Aida, founded HOMOGEN HOLZ chipboard manufacturing company in Japan
– Started wholesale distribution of KEVI casters to Sugatsune Kogyo. Co., Ltd.

At the same time, produced dead copied castors by Naigai Kinzoku Co., Ltd. in Osaka and sold at a half price of the genuine ones by Sugatsune Kogyo Co., Ltd. in Tokyo

– Ad「. Kagusangyo」Furniture magazine. Ad.「Shitsunai」Magazine

– CR-3-/8 20-1 Advertisement of Imported Furniture Fittings by Sugatsune Kogyo. Co., Ltd. S; INDUSTRIAL ART NEWS Vol.41 No.1 Published by National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
1974
– Cost reduction in KEVI: required some changes on the specification as below:housing mold, locking devises from fixing screw to snap, and plating from zinc to “Uinichrome” finish.

1975
– Sold 500 million pieces in the world.
1976
– Dead copied “Führungs Rollle” adverting on「md」German furniture magazine Sept.1976

1977

KEVI chair 2414 by Fritz Hansen A/S

1978

There was no castor testing certificate in MØBEL FAKTA by möbelinstitutet Sweden

1979

– 「Mobillia」No.289 Special article on mobility 「The Castor 」by Svend Møller

1981
– “Doppelrole für Bürodrehstühle” und-seeel design center Stuttgart, W.Germany Gross + Froelich Gmbh

– Established KEVI JAPAN Co., Ltd. for import and sales in Tokyo

– Changed Nylon one-mold housing and Wheel to ABS resin

– Castor Durability Test started in L.G.A. Nürenberg , West Germany

– Distribution System of Furniture Fittings in Japan 1982

1983
– Appeared modified products at Intezum Messe Köln, W. Germany
schukadruckuss plastic Schupp & Co. W. Germany
Mauri Confalonieri&C. Italy

1989
– Bloomed many copied or modified products at Intezum Messe Köln

Gross + Froelich Gmbh & C0. West Germany

Simple design and good quality parts ensure an upper-part for a longer life. Eco-conscious and repairable fittings are desirable for furnishing market needs.
Reproducing the disassemble mechanism and replacement are important before waste disposal. And repairing parts should be supplied for user to save resource.

KEVI original castors (1965 -1971) stocked for distribution in 50yrs

My stock for a half-century would be useful for the next generation.
Some possible suggestions are as below:
– For restoring of early KEVI chairs
– Good educational materials for industrial design to teach molding and assembly structure simplified
– Understanding PAT management and design registration to know how to prevent the occurrence of copied products

– Important for design art museums, designers and students as Danish modern design collection of KEVI original products
– Comparative display of imitation and timeless designs as the history of world design registration and strange standardization

Above all, it is the best for the archive of Fritz Hansen A/S and Design Art Museum collection.