The Rietveld Chair

A professor once told me (and a class of 30 others interested in “Architecture after the Industrial Revolution”) that a student had long ago gifted to him his very own Rietveld Chair, painted and assembled by hand. As I tried to envision the iconic collage of primary colors in any house, my professor proceeded to explain how the rigid, angled planes of the Rietveld Chair had a remarkable effect on the human body: the sitter resting in what the Dutch architect had foreseen to be a simultaneously mass-produced and artisanal object would experience an unexpected floating sensation, a state of relaxation bestowed upon any working class man who can pick up a saw and hammer (and a paint brush, I suppose).

Though Rietveld Year has come and gone (in case you missed it, June 24, 2010 to January 30, 2011 was officially and wholly dedicated to the architect), a good remix of a classic can often likewise stand the test of time. Taking cues from contemporary trends in music, the DZA “remixed” Rietveld’s now canonized design according to various musical genres. Ch-ch-check it out.

Pop Rietveld

‘King Tubby’ Rietveld

The clarity of color, shape and form make the Rietveld Chair a prime candidate for the sampling, covering, remixing and collaboration that is now commonplace in the music industry. Taking inspiration from a 12” vinyl single release, the DZA produced variations of the Rietveld Chair expressive of different styles of music: dub music switched the iconic De Stijl blue with green for a Rastafarian flavor, while pop music was cleverly expressed as an Ikea-style flat pack. An experimentation with an ‘extended edition’ led to a Rietveld bench, and ‘classical’ Rietveld abandoned colors altogether for refined finished wood. We’re ready to take design proposals for Polka Rietveld.

Rietveld Extended Edition

Classical Rietveld

[All images courtesy the designers]

by Kelly Chan

posted in Product

tagged chair, de stijl, design, furniture, history, music, Remix, Rietveld, Rietveld Chair, Variation

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