Gerrit Thomas Rietveld

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld (1888-1964) was a historic Dutch designer, protagonist of the avant-garde movement of De Stijl. Son of a carpenter and appreciated cabinetmaker himself, he got involved in the artistic ferments of the first post-war period, adhering to the stylistic features of Neoplasticism and being the first to adapt the principles of that movement to the production of furniture. His creations bear the strong aesthetic and theoretical influence of painters such as Piet Mondrian and Theo Van Doesburg, as it is evident in what is perhaps his most famous creation: the Red and Blue Chair, dominated by straight lines and by the use of primary colors. He also applied the same principles to architecture, in projects determined by a rigid geometry, such as the Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht. Starting in the 1960s, his furnishings have been reissued by Cassina, in the famous "I Maestri" collection, while other less famous creations have been more recently re-proposed in the catalogs of Dutch brands such as Lensvelt and Spectrum.