Gerrit Rietveld
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| Gerrit Rietveld | |
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| Born | Gerrit Thomas Rietveld 24 June 1888 Utrecht, Netherlands |
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| Died | 26 June 1964 (aged 76) Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Resting place | Soestbergen Cemetery Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Occupation | Furniture designer, architect |
| Known for | Red and Blue Chair (1917) Schröder House (1924) |
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld (24 June 1888–26 June, 1964) was a Dutch furniture designer and architect.
In 1916, Rietveld started his own furniture factory, while studying architecture. Rietveld designed the Red and Blue Chair in 1917, but changed its colours to the familiar style in 1918 after he became influenced by the 'De Stijl' movement, of which he became a member in 1919, the same year in which he became an architect. In 1924 he designed his first building the Rietveld Schröder House in close collaboration with the owner Truus Schröder-Schräder. The house is small. The design is conventional on the ground floor, but radical on the top floor, being entirely open plan, with no fixed walls. The design seems like a three dimensional realisation of a Mondrian painting. The house in Utrecht is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000.
Rietveld broke with the 'De Stijl' movement in 1928 and switched to the Nieuwe Zakelijkheid. The same year he joined the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne.
He designed the "Zig-Zag" chair in 1932 and started the design of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which was finshed after his death.
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