Ton van de Ven

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Ton van de Ven (Eindhoven, Netherlands, January 1st 1944) is a Dutch industrial designer. He is most famous for his work as creative director at theme park Efteling.

1 Work at Efteling
2 Efteling Portfolio
3 External link

[edit] Work at Efteling

In 1965, just graduated from the Design Academy in Eindhoven, Van de Ven applied for a job at Efteling. Anton Pieck, leading designer at the time, only asked him one question: 'do you master perspective?'. Ton made a little lie and acknowledged that he did. From that time he started to work with Pieck on various aspects of the park, and gradually developed his own style, although that never conflicted with the existing styles in the park.

As a first project, Pieck asked to work with him on the Indian Waterlilies. After a few sketches Pieck was convinced that he could fully trust the park in the hands of Van de Ven. It's often thought that he was Pieck's pupil, but as Van de Ven described it, he just 'operated within the corset of the Pieckian thinking'. When the master retired in 1975, Ton became the creative director of the park.

His first 'own' ride was the Haunted Mansion (1978), the first big attraction in the park. He created many of the current Efteling landmarks, of wich Fata Morgana and Dreamflight are considered to be his master pieces.

In 2002 Van de Ven retired from the park, and he could concentrate on his hobby - creating large paintings and sculptures of women. In Efteling, part of the St. Nicolaas square is renamed to Ton van de Ven square in his honour and his portrait appears in Villa Volta.