MILITARY CHAIR, STOOL AND TABLE, 1923
This furniture was designed for the Catholic Military Home in Utrecht. Here the wood joints are less continuous and connected with large bolts and nuts.
ZIGZAG CHAIR, 1932, AND TABLE, 1935
This chair consists of four wooden planks, which are connected by a dovetail construction, a wedge, screws and bolts. The planks form two sharp corners and an almost 90 degree angle.
Rietveld used a Bruynzeel shelf that cost 90 cents at the time. He described it as a spatial design: “The chair leaves the space intact, a partition in the room. The space in front and behind is not closed off anywhere.” For him, that was the value of the chair, but he also thought it was a constructive joke. He made many variations of this model.
Rietveld made many variations of the Zigzag Chair. He also designed a matching table.
CRATE FURNITURE, 1934
Rietveld designed these from crate wood that was used to wrap furniture for transport. This wood was cheap and in the days of the global depression there was a great need for affordable furniture. In this series he designed an office chair, a low chair, a low table, a higher table, a bookcase and a desk. There were also designs for children, a chair, table and desk.
