Frozen Fountain began on Utrechtsestraat in 1985, founded by Dick Dankers (1950-2018). Seven years later, in 1992, the store moved to the Prinsengracht, when Cok de Rooy joined as a partner. The store has been in the same canal house ever since, and the reputation Dankers and De Rooy have built is now international. TIME Magazine recognized Frozen Fountain as one of the 100 most influential design addresses in the world. Not bad for a store that basically just has an address on an Amsterdam canal.
What hangs and stands here is not your average furniture offering. Frozen Fountain sells only one-offs and limited series, work by designers such as Piet Hein Eek and Jurgen Bey, as well as Ineke Hans, Paul Heijnen and Maarten Baas. The store acts as a liaison between designers and craftsmen, and over the years has gained a central place in the Dutch design scene. Dick Dankers is considered one of the most important people to have put Dutch design on the map internationally. And that is no exaggeration.
The building itself adds to the atmosphere. High ceilings, brick walls, large windows overlooking the canal. The space is furnished as you would expect from a serious design store: the pieces are given room to breathe, there is no excess. A Scrapwood table by Piet Hein Eek stands next to work by younger designers, established collections next to installations. That deliberate mixing of familiar names with new talent is what has set Frozen Fountain apart from the rest for forty years.
Frozen Fountain sells exclusively one-offs and limited series, work by designers such as Piet Hein Eek and Jurgen Bey, as well as Ineke Hans and Paul Heijnen.
Frozen Fountain also has a branch in Tokyo, open by appointment. That says something about the store's position: not just an Amsterdam address, but a name that counts in international design circles. Yet the canal house in the Jordaan is still the beating heart. You walk into it the way you walk into a gallery: with the expectation of encountering something you didn't already know.