Mid-Century Modern Zig Zag Chair in Wood from Gerrit Thomas Rietveld

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Description

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Zig Zag Chair For Cassina

Designed by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld in 1934 and quickly deemed a design … Read more Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Zig Zag Chair For Cassina

Designed by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld in 1934 and quickly deemed a design icon, the Zig Zag chair is one of the first examples of a cantilevered solid wood chair, formed by four flat pieces of wood joined in rhythmic sequence to create an extremely sophisticated appearance of instability.

DETAIL
Dovetail Joints

STRUCTURE
Slats in solid American cherry or ash.

Designed by Gerrit Rietveld, this chair provided an early example of a cantilevered seat, and is composed of four wood boards articulated end-to-end to form an extremely eye-catching example of an unstable structure. Eschewing the traditional legs-seat-back sequence, Rietveld created a ribbon of wood forming a Z-shape. The crafts mastery of Cassina’s carpenters is seen in the execution of the dove-tail joints, which add to the beauty of the piece. The aesthetic uniqueness of this piece can be seen particularly well in the coloured version, its open-pore finish highlighting the veins of the wood on the front and sides. This finish reflects a number of variations on the theme made by Rietveld, designed to highlight the relationship between the vertical, oblique and horizontal lines.

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About the Designer:
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, born in Utrecht on 24 June 1888, seems possessed of two personalities, each so distinct that one might take his work to be that of more than one artist. The first personality is that seen in the craftsman cabinet-maker working in a primordial idiom, re-inventing chairs and other furniture as if no one had ever built them before him and following a structural code all of his own; the second is that of the architect working with elegant formulas, determined to drive home the rationalist and neoplastic message in the context of European architecture. The two activities alternate, overlap, and fuse in a perfect osmosis unfolding then into a logical sequence. In 1918 Rietveld joined the “De Stijl” movement which had sprung up around the review of that name founded the year before by Theo van Doesburg. The group assimilated and translated into ideology certain laws on the dynamic breakdown of compositions (carrying them to an extreme) that had already been expressed in painting by the cubists: the “De Stijl” artists also carefully studied the architectonic lesson taught by the great Frank Lloyd Wright, whose influence was widely felt in Europe at that time.Collaborating first with Robert van’t Hoff and Vilmos Huszar, then with Theo van Doesburg and Cornelius van Eesteren, Rietveld soon became one of the most distinguished interpreters of the neoplastic message.Among his most important works are:the Schröder house at Utrecht (1924); the “Row Houses” at Utrecht (1931-34); the Dutch pavilion at the Venice Biennial (1954); the sculpture pavilion in the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller at Otterloo and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam (1955). Out of his equally important furniture, Cassina has chosen for its own production: the “Red and Blue” (1918), the “Zig-Zag” (1934), the “Schröder 1” (1923), the “Utrecht” (1935)

About Manufacture:
Established in 1927 by Cesare and Umberto Cassina in Meda, Italy, Cassina launched industrial design in Italy in the 1950s, based on a totally innovative approach that marked the transition from artisan production to mass production. with a mindset focused on research and innovation, Cassina combines technology and long-standing artisan craftsmanship.

Memory, research, innovation. Cassina blends traditional skills and superior productivity, meticulous attention to detail and passion, uniqueness and experimentation, wellbeing and sustainability. Today, the company continues to address new lifestyles with the creation of complete, harmonious interior decor solutions that embody the best contemporary design for all areas of the home. See less