Coen de Vries (1918) was born in the Hague. He followed the training `furniture construction and interior design` at the Royal Academy in the Hague. In the framework of an exchange program, he studied at the Institute of Arts and Crafts (Kunstnijverheidsonderwijs) in Amsterdam, where he was taught by Mart Stam and Johan Niegeman (both, Stam and Niegeman, were trained at the Bauhaus in Dessau).
Coen de Vries worked as an industrial designer for different factories such as Everest furniture factories in Rotterdam, instruments factory Devo in The Hague and Plusmeubelen. He also worked as a consulting designer at Mepal, Lips, Gispen, Bruynzeel Kastenfabrieken, Eeka-meubelen en Fröscher (Germany). At Gispen, beside designing furniture, he was also responsible for branding.