Zig Zag Stoel

Designer Gerrit Rietveld Dutch

Not on view

Composed of four flat wood boards articulated end to end to form a Z-shape, Rietveld’s chair rejects conventional chair features: two arms, four legs, and a padded seat. Each board joins the next at mathematically precise angles with a bare minimum of supports and nuts and bolts. The piece asserts its inherently linear design and appears to be as much a sculpture as a utilitarian object. Rietveld’s interest in abstract design was rooted in his earlier participation in the avant-garde movement De Stijl, which espoused abstraction as the representation of pure spirit and universal appeal.

Zig Zag Stoel, Gerrit Rietveld (Dutch, Utrecht 1888–1964 Utrecht), Elm

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