Ton van de Ven, Dutch industrial designer, died at 71

  Dead Famous

Ton van de Ven, born on January 1, 1944 in Eindhoven and died September 16, 2015 in Tilburg.

He Ton vanwas a Dutch industrial designer. He is best known as the creative director at the Efteling theme park.

Ton van was born in Eindhoven, Netherlands, where he also studied at the Design Academy.

After graduation in 1963, Van de Ven applied for a job at Efteling in 1965. Anton Pieck, leading designer at the time, only asked him one question: “Do you master perspective?” Ton bent the truth a little to say that he did.

He then started to work with Pieck on various aspects of the park, gradually developing his own style, which never conflicted with the existing styles in the park.

Ton van’s first project was to work with Pieck on the Indian Waterlilies.

After a few sketches Pieck was convinced that he could fully trust the park in the hands of Ton van.

When Pieck retired in 1975, Ton became the creative director of the park.

Ton van’s first “own” ride was the Haunted Castle (“Spookslot”) in 1978, the first big attraction in the park.

He created many of the current Efteling landmarks, of which Fata Morgana and Dreamflight are considered to be his master pieces.

In 2002 Ton van 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 honor and his portrait appears in Villa Volta.

Ton van de Ven died at age 71 on September 16, 2015.