What is the importance of Benno Premsela? Is it because he was one of the first chairmans of the COC ,….or is it because he was one who represented a generation of dutch designers in the seventies and eighties? The story behind Premsela is not just an ordinary story, because as a jew and homosexual he was despised during and right after the war, submerged during the war and had a rough time right after the war because jews and homosexuals still were not accepted in society.
Raised as a humanist he could not understand the way people thought about the jews and homosexuals. This was one of the reasons he decided to become active in the liberation of the homosexuals and eventually became chairman of the COC. the “Nederlandse Vereniging tot Integratie van Homoseksualiteit COC”. An active chairman, who made his contributions to the liberation of the homosexuals in the Netherlands.
But now i tend to forget that Premsela was also a very gifted designer, who’s designs were executed all over the world and even at one time he had a retrospective in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. This exhibition recognized his qualities as a designer and made his name forever. Benno Premsela was a man to be admired for his ideas and designs. www.ftn-books.com has some nice Premsela designed publications available.
