Gerrit Rietveld
The Netherlands (1888—1964)
From his training in a goldsmith workshop, Rietveld attended evening classes to become a technical draftsman. In 1911 he joined the group Kunstliefde and set up a furniture workshop in Utrecht. In 1919 he co-founded De Stijl, applying its core principles to furnishings and architecture. In the same year he designed the Red and Blue chair, also exposed at the Bauhaus. Five years later he designed the Schröder House. He became a member of the CIAM (Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne). He created iconic furniture pieces, such as the Zig Zag chair and many buildings and interiors, including the Van Gogh Museum, but he died before seeing its completion.
