This recurring column looks at great moments in sit down design. The furniture in your crib is as important as the art on your walls and the clothes on your body, so hopefully this series helps you recognize awesomeness when you see it, whether that's while shopping at Design Within Reach or talking to your latest lady friend's gallery owner.
A key figure of the De Stijl movement alongside painter Piet Modrian, Gerritt Thomas Rietveld is best known for his Red and Blue Chair which was originally designed in 1918. What's awesome about it is the simple way the all the ideas of the movement come together in one piece: Vertical and horizontal lines are positioned to exist independently of other elements. A bit hard to swallow, but consider how the chair looks like what a Modrian painting would be if three dimensional. Rietveld was not interested in notions of comfort, so we recommend the Red and Blue chair be collected as a Vitra Miniature. Then it becomes an accent piece, a conversation starter, and far easier to move. Buy it here.
A key figure of the De Stijl movement alongside painter Piet Modrian, Gerritt Thomas Rietveld is best known for his Red and Blue Chair which was originally designed in 1918. What's awesome about it is the simple way the all the ideas of the movement come together in one piece: Vertical and horizontal lines are positioned to exist independently of other elements. A bit hard to swallow, but consider how the chair looks like what a Modrian painting would be if three dimensional. Rietveld was not interested in notions of comfort, so we recommend the Red and Blue chair be collected as a Vitra Miniature. Then it becomes an accent piece, a conversation starter, and far easier to move. Buy it here.
