Hwie-Bing Kwee

The Omnimark family business was founded in 1953 by André Kwee, originally under the name Omniscreen. In 1986, the company’s management was taken over by son Hwie-Yang and in 2006 by his younger brother Hwie-Bing, who is still in the director’s chair today. The company’s roots lie in screen printing. Today’s Omnimark focuses on ‘marking’: from products to interiors, building facades, cars, trucks, buses, trains, airplanes and much more. This story is about the extraordinary journey of a young Chinese-Indonesian man with a plane ticket and a passion for screen printing, about his company that grew into an established name in the corporate identity industry, and about the impact of three generations of Kwee.

To explain how Omnimark got to where it is today and what influence famous Dutch designers have had on this, we have to go back to the very beginning. The year is 1949, in which Kwee Tat-Hwie – a Chinese born in the then Dutch East Indies with the Dutch nickname André – at the age of 23, makes a one-way trip from Jakarta to Schiphol with a school friend. As a son of an entrepreneur, André works in a printing company in the Dutch East Indies and there he discovers his passion for the graphic profession. However, the ambitions of the two young men are greater. They are both accepted at the Grafische Ambachtsschool (Graphic Arts School) in Amsterdam.

It soon becomes apparent that André has a feel for the profession. In order to finance his stay and to give room for his talent he is exempted from certain subjects at school. This allows him to earn money alongside his education. André ends up at the first screen printing company in the Netherlands, Zeefdrukkerij De Burght in Amsterdam, and is introduced to this technique for the first time.

Omniscreen as a screen printing company
The part-time job of the inquisitive André is working as a catalyst. Inspired by what he learns at work and in his education, he decides to start his own company in 1953. With ten thousand guilders in borrowed money, he starts a screen printing company in Harlingen, where his older sister and her husband have started a balloon factory.

The founding of Omniscreen Harlingen, 1953

The unique thing about screen printing is that you can print almost anything with it. That’s where the name Omniscreen of André’s first company came from: a combination of Omni for ‘everything’ and screen referring to screen printing. Omniscreen was a good learning experience for André but also showed that it was difficult to find assignments in this sector if you were not based in the capital. After all, that was where a large part of the Dutch advertising and graphic design world was located at the time.

After an initial order for printing cheese crates destined for Russia, the order portfolio remained empty and André decided to return to Amsterdam in 1954. Omniscreen was established in the Warmoesstraat and André and his wife moved in upstairs. Shortly after the move, a fire broke out in the mattress factory on the ground floor, which spread to the floors above. Against the advice of the fire brigade, André ran up the stairs to save his Fongers bicycle, which he had bought with his frugally earned guilders. Omniscreen had to move once again.

Fire at the Warmoesstraat building with fireboat ‘Jan van der Heijden’ from the Damrak, 1955

Successful step towards self-adhesive foil
At Oude Schans 73 in Amsterdam, André finds a suitable location to continue with Omniscreen. There is more space than in the Warmoesstraat, which is a good thing because more and more orders are coming in and consequently also new personnel and new equipment. In 1960, André travels to the United States where he visits a trade fair in search of a screen printing press. In retrospect, this visit turns out to be a milestone in his career because he discovers a new product there: a small logo cut out of self-adhesive foil. André realises that this can also be done on a large scale. Once back home, he approaches the Dutch office of the manufacturer Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, now 3M. Together they decided to bring the product to the Netherlands to specialise in markings: logos and texts that until then had only been applied by hand painting.

Collaboration with Total Design for PAM
In 1965, a large order comes from the SHV group (Steenkolen Handels Vereeniging). The experienced designers Benno Wissing and Anneke Huig of Total Design are working on the new house style of SHV subsidiary PAM (Petroleum Aardolie Maatschappij). The implementation has to take place in one go. This poses a major challenge for Total Design, because 150 tanker vehicles and all of the petrol stations have to be provided with the new house style.

André had already acquired a reputation for being able to handle such complicated projects. Total Design co-founder Wim Crouwel and André already knew each other through their mutual acquaintance Kho Liang-Ie, who had also emigrated from the Dutch East Indies. Crouwel asked André to take on the implementation of the PAM corporate identity change on vehicles and petrol stations. Given the complexity of the logistics and processing time, he found this to be a perfect opportunity to use self-adhesive foil. No nervous hand painting, but complete uniformity and the ability to work quickly were the basis for this consideration. The designers opted for a fresh, white colour instead of black. (Research has shown that white cars are washed more often by their drivers.) All the necessary logos and texts are first screen printed onto foil with so-called negative paint and then cut out by hand with a pen knife. The entire production is divided into sets per vehicle. Just in one weekend André sets to work with a multitude of (on-call) employees.

Lettering PAM tanker vehicle, 1956

Anneke Huig remembers it well: “Several stacks of self-adhesive foil, in different sizes, on which the PAM letters and the drops are depicted in screen printing, are ready for action. I have to climb onto one of the racks with my measuring tape to determine the correct position of the various parts of the design. No two tankers are the same: filler caps, handles and steps must be avoided when applying the foil. A square space at the front near the driver is never a problem, but further back it is improvisational. Every ten minutes a tanker decorated with red drops and text drives out of the hall at the back. And every ten minutes new cars are added to the line of cars in front of the entrance. All drivers know when it is their turn by using what we would now call time slots. The entire logistical operation is perfectly organised and directed by André down to the smallest detail. I have rarely experienced such a well-organised project in my life. This weekend I have certainly been confirmed again of the importance of good preparation in our profession.”

Dinner with Henk de Vries
Other well-known names from the graphic and advertising world also enjoyed working with André. Even before the PAM assignment was in the picture, the then still studying graphic designer Henk de Vries was given the assignment together with André to letter the fleet of sanitary wholesaler Plieger, which led to a close friendship between the two. De Vries says about this: “It soon became clear that you could make very good and reliable agreements with André Kwee and that he carried out the assignments with great precision. Because of my great enthusiasm about the qualities of Omniscreen, I invited André and his wife for dinner. They were surprised: it was the first time since their arrival in the Netherlands that they had been invited by a Dutch person. Mutual trust grew and we carried out many house styles together, including the new style of the famous Van Beek Art Supplies shops. André wanted to do more than only lettering of house styles. Because of my experience with designing bathrooms, in the eighties André asked me to design stickers that could be applied as decoration over existing tiles, so that he could approach not only companies but also the private market. In order to make his product better known, he decided to participate in a trade fair in Utrecht shortly before the opening. A stand had to be designed in just two days. André gave me the assignment and rented two containers. Due to great time pressure, the decoration was applied to the containers during the trade fair (for demonstration purposes). These containers continued to be used for advertising in a meadow along the railway in Breukelen for a long time. André was a very inventive and driven man, nothing was impossible for him. He showed a great feel for quality and design.”

Sanitair-groothandel Plieger, brochures for kitchen and bathroom decoration stickers with Henk de Vries

New Albert Heijn house style
In his search for clients, André is also sitting round the table with Albert Heijn. Egbert Jonker, responsible for Albert Heijn’s house style, and packaging designer Louis Swart of design agency LSDC explain that Albert Heijn is looking for someone who can provide the fleet with the Albert Heijn house style. When André explains the concept of self-adhesive foil, they are not yet enthusiastic. But he has an Albert Heijn logo printed on foil with him and in a bold move, he sticks it on the conference table, in the presence of the management team. Everyone is convinced: this is how it should look on the currently hand-painted fleet. The painter of the Albert Heijn fleet is neatly assigned a new role in the stickering process. From this moment on, screen printing and painting by hand are slowly becoming a thing of the past when applying house styles to vehicles.

Albert Heijn truck lettered by Omniscreen. Logo design: Allied International Designers (AID)

The assignment for Schiphol Airport
The various collaborations with Total Design ensured a close bond between André and Wim Crouwel, partly stimulated by Kho Liang-Ie. A beautiful tangible example of their co-creation – the year is 1967 – is the assignment for Schiphol Airport. They were working on large-scale expansion and were looking for a partner to take care of the signage. In their collaboration, Benno Wissing as designer, Kho Liang-Ie as interior architect and André as letterer and executor were able to unleash their expertise on this large-scale project.

The final result continues to have an impact on signage in public buildings to this very day. They chose yellow signs with black text in the Akzidenz Grotesk font and pictogrammes for the important gate signs, which provide an excellent contrast. During a brainstorming session, André also made the following statement: “Suppose that I am walking here as a foreign visitor on my way to a gate, but I really need to go to the toilet and I am in a hurry. Then I want to be able to find the toilet quickly and intuitively. This is only possible using very large signs that leave nothing to the imagination.” The result was a large, green light box with black and white cut-out text. These are signs that you still find at airports and stations today.

Yellow gate designation and green secondary designation for toilets at Schiphol Airport, from 1967

The Omniscreen logo: a favour from Wim Crouwel
The collaboration with Wim Crouwel does not only bring in new assignments but it also has another concrete result for Omniscreen. One day Crouwel offers André to design a new logo. The letter o is central and also represents the iris of the eye because Omniscreen’s work is all about visual identity. Commissioned by Wim Crouwel, his Total Design assistant Jack Jacobs draws the logo. There were no computers or digital means, everything was done with a ruler, compass and a pencil.

 The old Omniscreen house style in colour screen printing on paper

Bus decals via Roger van den Bergh
In the sixties and seventies, successful collaborations with designers followed each other in rapid succession. A striking example is the assignment for a new house style for the Zuidooster Autobusdiensten bus service. Designer Roger van den Bergh says: “It was April 1970 and as a 21-year-old graphic design student at the Academy for Industrial Design in Eindhoven, I received a phone call from Siep Wijsenbeek to make an appointment with the management of Zuidooster Autobusdiensten in Gennep. At that time, Wijsenbeek was head of Advertising and Design for the NS (the Dutch Railways). The NS was also a major shareholder in many regional public transport companies. A few weeks later I met Wijsenbeek at his office at the Moreelsepark in Utrecht. He was so positive that he immediately called the director of Zuidooster to make an appointment for a presentation. As luck would have it, Zuidooster director Hortensius was just finishing a meeting at the Centraal Autoherstel Bedrijf (CAB), also located in Utrecht, and it was decided to meet him there that same afternoon. The result was that the designs were approved. Hortensius also wanted the new style to be implemented as soon as possible. Wijsenbeek suggested that I contact André immediately. A few months later he arrived with his famous Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV at the Zuidooster workshops and started applying the new logo to the first buses. Due to our successful collaboration, André and I subsequently did various other assignments for bus companies.”

André at work for Zuidooster, ± 1970

Hwie-Bing Kwee and Roger van den Bergh, 2022

From Omniscreen to Omnimark
In 1973, the name Omnimark was introduced. André noticed that the assignments from the graphic design world to apply markings on vehicles were becoming larger and larger. The orders are mostly brand-oriented, and based on the English word for ‘mark’ he came up with the name Omnimark. André also introduced the term ‘fleet marking’, still a well-known term in the industry.

De Gruyter and the image battles of supermarkets
In the seventies Omnimark experiences good times and – often through designers that were friends – receives beautiful assignments. Total Design in particular, as an innovative agency, likes to work with André and his people. Total Design designer Ben Bos designs the new logo of supermarket chain De Gruyter, for example. André is commissioned to sticker 85 trucks and this is all done in one weekend in Den Bosch. He accomplishes the processing of foils into De Gruyter logos in various designs and sizes beforehand. In his collaboration with Ben Bos, André also proves to be an excellent project coordinator: from taking the inventory of the fleet and thinking along when it needs to be sprayed in yellow, to the logistical challenge for the final rebranding. With a large team of technicians he works on this immense job in the middle of the night. André has also brought his sons Hwie-Yang and Hwie-Bing with him to let them earn some pocket money. Unfortunately for them the labour inspection unexpectedly comes in. The adolescents of fourteen and twelve are not allowed to work at that hour at all and they have to stop immediately and wait in the canteen. A contrast between an Indonesian upbringing and Dutch legislation.

Images of the rebranding of De Gruyter Supermarkets and the installation in Den Bosch, ± 1975

On the nightly drive back, André is not feeling well. He parks his Alfa Romeo in the emergengy lane, an ambulance arrives and the paramedics conclude that he has just survived a heart attack. It is the price of his work ethic: working hard without complaining. André has to rest for four months, one of which in bed – an almost impossible task for this entrepreneur. The customer contacts are temporarily managed by sales representative John Möllenkamp, who will later start Road Advertising.

Article in De Telegraaf, published on 8 January 1972

The Royal Lion’s Willy
In 1973, graphic designer Anne Stienstra of Total Design stylised the national coat of arms on behalf of the Dutch Royal House. It was to be applied to both sides of the government aircraft, the Fokker F28 PH-PBX, using foil technology. This aircraft was used by the head of state, Queen Juliana at the time, and by members of the government. André personally sticks the logos onto the aircraft under the watchful eye of the Queen’s adjutant. After applying the pre-spaced cut-out logo, the image becomes visible as soon as the application tape is removed. At that moment, the adjutant orders the work to be stopped immediately. He disappears to make a phone call and returns with the message that the logo that had just been applied has to be removed. There is supposedly an error in the design. Due to the excessive stylisation of the coat of arms, the lions’ ‘member’ has disappeared. According to royal principle, they must be lions and not lionesses, so the design is changed to make them male lions again.

André Kwee at the government plane with the modified (male) lions on it, 1973

Many other major assignments followed via graphic designers:

• Van Gelder Paper in 1968 via Karen Munck from AID
• Spaarnestad Publishers in 1969 via Gert Dumbar from Tel Design
• Smith’s Chips in 1970 via Louis Swart from LSDC
• Furness in 1970 via Ben Bos from Total Design
• Calpam 1971 via Andrew Fallon
• Dutch Concrete Group in 1971 via Gert-Jan Leuvelink and Gert Dumbar from Tel Design
• Former supermarket chain Simon de Wit in 1972 via Frans van Mourik, Theo van Leeuwen and Gert Dumbar from Tel Design
• Delta Lloyd in 1977 via Andrew Fallon from Tel Design
• Westeinde Hospital in 1977 via Gert Dumbar from Studio Dumbar
• PTT in 1981 and 1989 via Total Design and Studio Dumbar
• ANWB in 1985 via Hans Martens from Studio ANWB with support from Studio Dumbar

Reunification within Omnimark
Let us jump back in time to 1985. André’s sons Hwie-Yang and Hwie-Bing are now adults. They had been involved with Omnimark from a young age. That was a logical consequence of their father’s entrepreneurship, but their paths did not go straight to his company. The boys grew up in Amsterdam and later in the Utrecht area, where Hwie-Yang finished secondary school in an impressive manner: from MAVO (pre-vocational education) to HAVO (senior general education) and finally Atheneum (pre-university education), after which he obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Law and finally did a doctoral degree at the Interuniversity Interfaculty of Business Administration in Delft – at the time still a novel field of study at this technical university. He did not start his career at Omnimark but in the banking world: first at Continental Bank Amsterdam (now Bank of America) and later at Citibank. In 1986, with all his acquired experience, he joined Omnimark.

Hwie-Bing felt more attraction to creation than doing business and attended the graphic MTS after he had not found his way in secondary school. His love for design brought him to the graphic department of Defence in Apeldoorn during his military service, where he was allowed to manage. Omnimark was not yet in the picture. While his father would have liked him to join the company, Hwie-Bing’s ambitions lay across the border (just like his father’s at the time). Hwie-Bing did an internship at a printing company in Grasse in the south of France. Hwie-Bing then worked for two years in a screen printing department in Compiègne, about sixty kilometres north of Paris. There he learned the tricks of the trade and printed numerous billboards. A sales position in the offset department of 3M Netherlands tempted Hwie-Bing to return to the Netherlands. Here he developed his commercial skills and visited many printers and lithographers.

One day, after an unfortunate slide on the baseball field, Hwie-Bing has to stay at home and decides to buy an Apple IIe computer with the database programme Paradox. To his father’s great satisfaction, he helps him plan and organise a complex assignment for four hundred Shell petrol stations. André sees the added value of his son’s talent and decides to give it another try: “Can you think about whether you want to work at Omnimark – or do you want to keep running away?” Hwie-Bing quit his job at 3M and joins Omnimark as a sales representative in 1985.

From craftsmanship to computers
His new role brings Hwie-Bing to Total Design at the Herengracht in Amsterdam, among other places. The name Kwee is mentioned and he is warmly welcomed. First by Sonja Greven who has experienced much as André’s receptionist (“Your father was always so friendly…”). People who have worked with his father emerge from all corners: graphic designers, illustrators, and model maker Wiet Weteling.

Relations remain close and a few years later (now director) Ben Bos contacts Hwie-Bing to discuss an assignment for Randon Security, a division of employment agency Randstad. Total Design has designed the logo and this needs to be applied to the cars. Hwie-Bing takes care of the screen printing on white foil and, with a team of four full-time colleagues, he cuts out the curves manually and with a ruler. Hwie-Bing is not entirely satisfied, because the cutting work, no matter how carefully it is done, is not uniform. He did not fancy the result. Around this time, he suggests to his father to invest in computer cutting technology. More specifically, in the American Graphix machine, a table-sized device that has not yet been fully developed and costs thirty thousand guilders. André opposes the idea. It is a gap between two generations. André calls the family together and Hwie-Bing keeps hammering away at the importance of computer cutting technology. It makes André angry: he does not tolerate any contradiction but he also cannot fire his son.

In Denmark, there is a sign maker and hand painter who has struggled with the shortcomings of both manual and machine cutting. His name is Ole Nonbye and he designed the Signtronic: an industrial-level cutting computer, much larger and more accurate than the Graphix machine. For the sum of five hundred thousand guilders such a device can be purchased. The Dane had been on an acquisition tour of various 3M customers worldwide and that is how he ended up at Hwie-Bing. Hwie-Bing was deeply impressed and saw opportunities as well as advantages. However, he foresaw two problems: how do I get my temperamental father on board with this and how do we get half a million guilders?

Hwie-Bing knows that his father and Ole Nonbye, both being screen printers and hand painters, must have many things in common. He books a flight to Denmark for his father and himself and only tells André afterwards. This way his father is forced to come along. André brought the seemingly simple but technically complex Omnimark logo along and asks Nonbye to cut it out. His wife takes the logo and digitises it. Within ten minutes she returns with a perfectly cut out logo. André is deeply impressed, falls silent for a moment and says: “We want this machine.” At 26 years old, Hwie-Bing knows to arrange financing with the local Rabobank, the department is being renovated and new personnel is being hired and trained. It turns out to be a huge catalyst for assignments, also from graphic designers and advertising agencies.

Where father André introduced the foil technique in the Netherlands, Hwie-Bing, being the next generation in the family business, ensured the introduction of digital logo cutting as an innovation on the Dutch market. The introduction of the first digital cutting computer attracted a lot of attention from industry peers as well as graphic designers and end customers.

Hwie-Bing Kwee (1958), André Kwee (1925) and Hwie-Yang Kwee (1956)

The brothers at the helm
Due to the rapid growth of the company, brother Hwie-Yang decides to exchange his financial career for a position at Omnimark: he joins the company in 1986 and subsequently holds the position of general manager for nineteen years. André takes a step back in 1990. Partly because of his health, partly because he has now been able to see the competence, dedication and passion of his sons up close.

With a warm but sober party André says goodbye to his Omnimark to enjoy his well-deserved retirement. Together with his wife he travels to his native Indonesia. Many family members are doing business there on various fronts. When he visits a family member who runs the Orion bakery in Solo, two seasoned entrepreneurs meet at the dinner table. This successful bakery produces a special ‘spekkoek’, not only within Indonesia but also far beyond throughout Asia. With his sense of design André advises his nephew to have his house style renewed. Upon returning to the Netherlands this leads to a design assignment for the team Anne Stienstra and Jan Sevenster.

Design Mandarin ‘Spekkoek’ box by Anne Stienstra and Jan Sevenster for bakery Orion, Solo, ± 1990

Digitalisation and technological developments also ensured that cutting computers became increasingly cheaper and therefore more accessible to many sign companies. This trend was worrying, because competitors at the lower end of the market could suddenly offer what Omnimark did. What these competitors did not have, however, was years of experience in thinking along with graphic designers. Hwie-Yang had a logical idea: “We must focus entirely on organisations that are professionally involved with their corporate identity: the larger companies, multinationals and governments. These are parties that employ graphic designers. In order to add value there, you must understand the aspects of graphic design well and express that in your services. We have learned – also between the lines – to read and understand how graphic design has developed in the Netherlands, partly by following and understanding design trends.” In the meantime, the Kwee family is making efforts to give the subject of fleet marking a worthy place in the design world and books on corporate identity.

The police pitch together with Studio Dumbar
As director, Hwie-Yang regularly comes into contact with graphic designers. In 1992, the Dutch police issued a pitch for a new corporate identity among a number of Dutch and foreign design agencies. Gert Dumbar of Studio Dumbar called Hwie-Yang because he wanted to work with him on this pitch based on their collaboration in previous projects. This invitation was an honour for Hwie-Yang and he visited Studio Dumbar – then still based in The Hague – where many young designers with diverse backgrounds were active. Hwie-Yang was invited to join a brainstorming session about the challenges of this pitch. Someone remarked that many people did not like receiving a letter from the police and that the main focus should be elsewhere. They came up with two things: the uniform of the officer on the street and the vehicles should be leading in the image and corporate identity of the police. The pitch was therefore focused on these two aspects and Studio Dumbar received the assignment.

It became the house style that is still used to this very day, albeit refreshed here and there. Designer Joost Roozekrans in particular played a major role in this. Hwie-Yang stickered a proof-of-concept car from Omnimark based on this design. In the deepest secrecy, because the outside world was not yet allowed to get wind of it. The test model was positively received and the collaboration between Studio Dumbar and Omnimark was as ground-breaking as it was successful. The application of retro-reflection for safety and recognition at night was still in its infancy at the time, but it turned out to work so well that other emergency services later started using this technique as well.

The police house style on a Porsche. Design: Joost Roozekrans, Studio Dumbar, photo: Lex van Pieterson, ± 1994

Working document corporate identity technical staffing agency CAPAC. Design: Studio Dumbar, 1997

Changing of the guards
Although from the same generation as his brother, we consider Hwie-Bing as the third generation Kwee. In 2006 he takes over from Hwie-Yang, who becomes director of Transport Techniek Delft – an organisation that emerged from the Rijks Automobiel Centrale. Hwie-Yang supervises the sale to Volkswagen importer Pon and continues his career there.

‘Handje-pakje’, a major assignment for Van Gend & Loos

KPN container designed by Smidswater and the new KPN logo designed by Studio Dumbar

Although Hwie-Bing works less with graphic designers than his father, it does happen sporadically. Hwie-Bing enjoys this, because designers do not hide anything, they think constructively, express their doubts honestly and are quality-conscious – characteristics that also characterise him. In 2008, there is a request from Bureau Mijksenaar. They are involved in the interior design of the Graphic Design Museum in Breda. Hwie-Bing personally takes care of the signage and exhibition visualisations in the entire building and is also responsible for the stickers for the museum shop, in the style of the signage at Schiphol. The entire graphic design scene of the Netherlands is present at the opening, provided by the then Queen Beatrix. Hwie-Bing: “This was a fantastic job. It is so wonderful to be able to work with designers. I have great respect for what they want to achieve and the challenges they dare to take on, for example when they do not want to make any concessions to quality but still keep an eye on feasibility.”

Graphic Design Museum Shop, Breda, 2008

There was something to be said about the quality of the Omnimark logo itself. The various Omnimark expressions were visually all over the place and there was no uniform basis. This bothered Hwie-Bing, because Omnimark was the one company that you would expect their house style to look sleek. At a festive gathering where the work of Wim Crouwel (Total Design) was included in the Amsterdam City Archives, Hwie-Bing met the spiritual father of the Omnimark logo. He discussed the problem and Crouwel understood his concerns. Ben Bos was given permission by Crouwel to respectfully adjust ‘his’ logo. This happened in 2014. A graphic-mathematical interplay of circles and squares shaped the Omnimark communications for almost ten years.

When the new Omnimark website was introduced in 2023, a change was made to the corporate identity under the direction of the Redkiwi agency of industrial designer Jasper Verbunt. The logo was moved to the background and the brand name Omnimark was given a prominent place, following the example of the ‘swoosh’ and brand name of Nike.

The new Omnimark word mark since 2023

Design for Liander fleet marking by Studio Dumbar

Design for Rijnja by Jan Sevenster

Renaissance of classical forms
It never occurred to Hwie-Bing to take a seat in the designer’s chair. “In the industry we work in, more than 90% of sign companies do the creative work ‘on the side’. If a client asks us if we also design house styles, we say: No, wedo not. Our clients have professional relationships with graphic designers and design agencies and my father once agreed with Benno Wissing: You are the creator, we are the executor. Part of my strategy is to rekindle the relationship between Omnimark and the graphic design world over the next ten years.”

Under the leadership of Hwie-Bing, Omnimark has developed into a company that can dress up almost anything, such as vehicles, buildings (inside and outside), products, billboards and infrastructure. The main focus still remains on fleet marking. After all, there are an incredible number of company cars, buses, trucks, trains, trams, metros and airplanes that require a corporate identity or message to be conveyed. This immediately brings Hwie-Bing to a philosophical question: all shapes and lines have been used in a corporate identity in the past. How creative can the human brain be to come up with something slightly different? He predicts a renaissance in the graphic world in which classical shapes such as those of the Swiss school will return.

The connection with Total Design and Wim Crouwel was perhaps the most important link between André and the design world. When André passed away in 2005, his widow received a letter from Wim Crouwel in which he expressed his condolences and praised André’s career and skills and his dedicated collaboration with many graphic designers in the Netherlands. In addition to letters from many other relations, the family also received letters from Benno Wissing, Henk de Vries and Gert Dumbar, to name a few.

Henk de Vries and Hwie-Bing Kwee, photo: Truus van Gog/Hollandse Hoogte, 2008

Sources
Wibo Bakker, Droom van helderheid. Huisstijlen, ontwerpbureaus en modernisme in Nederland, 1960-1975 (Dream of clarity: Corporate identities, design agencies and modernism in the Netherlands, 1960-1975), Uitgeverij 010, 2011 (consulted for detailed knowledge about PAM)
Shared memories of Roger van den Bergh, Anneke Huig, Hartmut Kowalke, Henk de Vries
Studio Dumbar Archive – PTT, [Z]OO producties
27 October 2023: Meeting Hwie-Bing with Gert Dumbar, Bodega De Posthoorn, The Hague
Online: www.designhistory.nl/2020/td-en-studio-dumbar-werken-samen-voor-de-anwb/
The story about the creation of the Omnimark logo by Wim Crouwel comes from ‘tradition’ and can no longer be verified.

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André Kwee, born on 29 October 1925, Surabaya – died on 24 January 2005, Nieuwegein
Hwie-Yang Kwee, born on 11 November 1956, Amsterdam
Hwie-Bing Kwee, born on 17 December 1958, Harlingen

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Author: Omnimark, October 2024
English translation and editing: Peter Hofstee
Editing: Sybrand Zijlstra
Portrait photo: Aatjan Renders