Aldo van den Nieuwelaar studied at the Royal Academy of Arts and Design (since 2004 the Academy of Art and Design St. Joost) in Breda, Netherlands. Van den Niuewelaar was Inspired by Gerrit Rietveld, De Stijl and Bauhaus and designed furniture, rugs, lamps, light sculptures and a building system. In 1969 he founded his own design studio. During the 1960’s and 70’s van den Nieuwelaar designed a series of fluorescent lights in curved steel tubes and chrome for Artimeta Soest. Of this the TC6, a square box to which a circular fluorescent tube attached to its back, is regarded a modern classic. Van den Nieuwelaar was responsible for the lighting design in various public spaces.
In 1973 van den Nieuwelaar designed a series of narrow cabinets with shutters called A’dammer for the Dutch furniture company Pastoe. A’Dammer is a part of the collection at the Museum of Furniture Studies.
Van den Nieuwelaar was the architect responsible for the design of the Waterloo Tube Station in Amsterdam. In 1980, he was awarded the prize of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID Award). Six years later he received the Kho Liang Ie award. His designs have been exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Aldo van den Nieuwelaar passed away in 2010 at the age of 66.
