Set of Six Rietveld Zig Zag Chairs Executed by Gerard van de Groenekan

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Set of Six Rietveld Zig Zag Chairs Executed by Gerard van de Groenekan

About the Item

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld was a Dutch furniture designer and architect. He was one of the principal members of the Dutch artistic movement called De Stijl. The first zig zag chair was designed by Rietveld for the Rietveld-Schröder House in Utrecht, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, in 1932. The original idea was to see if he could make a chair out of one piece. Early prototypes were crafted from different materials such as fiber glass, metal and plywood. The final design was made out of not one but four flat panels. The panels were sawed from a standard-sized cabinet shelf from the Bruynzeel firm. Dry joints connect the components with brass screws, which were left visible. From circa 1934 the chairs were sold by the luxury departmentstore Metz & Co. As the demand for the chairs was still high after the second world war, the production was continued by Gerard van de Groenekan. Van de Groenekan had been working for Rietveld since the winter of 1917-1918 in Rietvelds workshop in Utrecht. Later on he took over the workshop as Rietveld himself only continued to produce prototypes and testmodels. In the 1950's Van de Groenekan moved his business to De Bilt under the name "Het Goede Meubel". As the demand for "genuine" Rietveld furniture increased, he started marking the chairs with a paper label stating his name and address. After Rietveld's death in 1964 he used a brandmark with his company's name. Since 1973 Cassina owns the exclusive rights to produce the chairs. With its Minimalist, architectonic profile, the Zig Zag chair embodies the goals of early modernism and has become a centerpiece for countless museum collections around the world. Condition: In good original condition with minor wear consistent with age and use, these chairs are still preserving the original and authentic patina. One chair missing two of the metal sliders underneath. Five chairs with paper label G.A. v.d. Groenekan, Utrechtseweg 315, DE BILT. Provenance: This set was acquired in 1963 directly at the workshop of Gerard van de Groenekan in De Bilt and have been in the same Dutch family since.

Creator:
Gerrit Rietveld (Designer),Gerard van de Groenekan (Maker)
Dimensions:
Height: 28.94 in (73.5 cm)Width: 14.38 in (36.5 cm)Depth: 16.15 in (41 cm)Seat Height: 16.93 in (43 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 6
Style:
De Stijl (Of the Period)
Place of Origin:
Netherlands
Period:
1960-1969
Date of Manufacture:
1963
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. In good original condition with minor wear consistent with age and use, these chairs are still preserving the original and authentic patina. One chair missing two of the metal sliders underneath.
Seller Location:
Hilversum, NL
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU98559025481

Shop All Gerrit Rietveld

Gerrit Rietveld

Best known for his Red and Blue chair, a modernist icon created using only two plywood plates and 15 connecting bars, Dutch designer Gerrit Thomas Rietveld trained as a cabinetmaker, and his bold vision for furniture was supported by his expertise in construction and craftsmanship.

Born in Utrecht, Rietveld learned goldsmithing in addition to the cabinetry apprenticeship he had in his carpenter father’s workshop. He studied draftsmanship with architect Piet Klaarhamer at the Utrecht Museum of Applied Arts and opened his own furniture workshop in 1917. In the 1930s, Rietveld began to experiment with then-unusual materials like plywood and aluminum, and he pursued intellectual concepts through his design, even considering a seat as a resting place for the body and the soul.

Designed in 1918, the minimalist Red and Blue chair is widely coveted by collectors and gained admirers in the likes of legendary American sculptor and designer Donald Judd over the years. (Examples of Rietveld’s designs can be found in Judd’s restored home-museum in New York City.) The Red and Blue chair is so stunning in its geometric simplicity that it is one of the most important symbols of the Dutch art and design movement of the early 20th century called De Stijl, of which Rietveld was an important part. De Stijl means “the Style” and was an effort to express utopian values through pure abstraction in design and the use of primary colors.

Another example of Rietveld’s celebrated seating furniture is the Zig-Zag chair, which was commissioned by the Dutch department store Metz & Co. and intended to be mass-produced. The resulting design — to which the rights to manufacture were bought by Cassina in 1971 — is the essence of the De Stijl movement and an example of Rietveld’s experiments with jointless chairs made from a single material, wood. The Zig-Zag chair’s armless, legless, elegant form is pure abstraction, yet it is also sturdy and comfortable.

Later in his career, Rietveld worked more often as an architect, designing buildings in prestigious settings like the Venice Biennale. He was a pioneer in more ways than one: The first building he designed, Rietveld Schröder House in Utrecht in 1924, is a radically modern space and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.

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