Gerrit Rietveld was a Dutch furniture designer and architect. Rietveld is associated with the De Stijl movement. The movement emphasized straight lines and primary colors.
Gerrit Rietveld was born in Utrect, the Netherlands in the year 1888. As a teenager he was attended night school and also was an apprentice for maker of jewelry. During this period he learned how to model, draw, and to paint. He opened his own furniture production company in 1917.
Below a brief documentary on Gerrit Rietveld:
Some of his most famous designs were the famous Red and Blue Chair, the Zig Zag Chair, and the Schroder House. The Schröder House being the best and only example of De Stijl architecture.
The house was built in Utrecht for a client who lived in the house and passed away in the mid 80s. The house is now a museum and can be visited by the public and below we do just that!:
In this clip we explore his famous Red and Blue Chair:
Gerrit Rietveld passed away in 1964. He was 76 years of age.
Price range information: Drawings and posters can be found starting at $3,000 up to original woodcut pieces which can bring $50,000 at auction.
As a person who looks for artistic design in everything I think his chairs are incredible functional works of art. Its great to see a movement such as the De Stijl, that can be represented by a piece of furniture or even more fascinating, a house.
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