Thursday, September 9, 2010

Gerrit Rietveld, June.24.1888 - June.26.1964

An extraordinary dutch furniture maker and architect, was influenced by the De Stijl movement. The De Stijl movement favored a simplistic form and color in furniture; the form was reduced to vertical and horizontal lines and the colors were strictly primaries along with black and white.


Reitveld's Red and Blue Chair, as shown above was made in 1917 and after being influenced by the De Stijl movement, painted it with primaries along with black and white. This unique form and use of color became quintessential to Reitveld's work, until he broke off in 1928. He then succeeded his last style of architecture with a new one, it was called: Nieuwe Zakelijkheid. This new form of architecture entailed design which was a bit more angular, and free of decoration. Another example of his work influenced by the Nieuwe Zakelijkheid, was the Zig-Zag chair:
This chair was not only a unique piece of furniture it is a work of genius. I am very influenced by this chair, and would like to use Gerrit Rietveld's aesthetic to complete my designs in this woodworking class. Rietveld's philosophy was always simple and never too decorated or ornamented. What I enjoy most about his pieces are his divine taste in simple and sophisticated structure, and I would like to make my work resemble his work (with my own touch of course).

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