The Delta vase is the best-known example of Van Schijndel's preference for the triangular shape. This design from 1981 is now classic .

Mart van Schijndel developed several prototypes for his vase, which he called Point, Double, Triple and Delta. The Delta model was launched on the market. Unlike all other glass vases, this vase was not made of blown glass, but composed of three glass plates glued with silicone sealant. A corner has been cut off from each rectangular picture.

The minimalist simplicity of the much-plagiarized Delta Vase brought Van Schijndel international recognition. In 1984 he won the '5th Arango International Design Contest, Glass that Works' in Miami with the Delta. The vase is now part of several museum collections, including those of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and Boijmans van Beuningen Rotterdam.

Each copy of the vase has an engraved signature of the designer. This could give the impression that Van Schijndel regarded the vase as an art object. The opposite is true: for him the vase was a flower carrier that, when not used as such, simply belonged in the cupboard.

The signing had a purely pragmatic reason. It had to provide protection against counterfeiting. This turned out not to be really effective; Van Schijndel spent a lot of money on lawyers to warn manufacturers of Delta look-alikes.

The shape principle of the Delta vase is closely related to the Slack lamp. In the version, however, the obtuse corners on the outside are created because two glass plates are glued together, while in the lamp this corner does not form a connection between two parts, but the steel is folded over here.

Author Mienke Simon Thomas states in her book 'Good in shape: a hundred years of design in the Netherlands': ' The architect Mart van Schijndel became, without consciously wanting to, one of the most successful self-producing designers. In 1981, as a one-off form experiment, he showed his Delta Vase, composed of three rectangular pieces of glass, for the first time in Hans Appenzeller's gallery in Amsterdam. Tens of thousands of Delta vases have now been sold. '

Marijke Kuper | Mart van Schijndel Colorful architect