Gerrit Th. Rietveld 1888-1964
Desk from the series “Krat-meubels”
Design: Utrecht The Netherlands, 1934-1935
Stained solid pine, mounted with screws.
Measurements : Hight. 70 cm., Width 100 cm., Dept. 60 cm.
‘Krat meubels’ (meaning ‘crate furniture’), as the Dutch architect and designer Gerrit Rietveld called them, date from 1934. At first he designed a chair, a cupboard and a low table. The small desk was added to the series a year later. Rietveld described these simple furniture as being made according to the ‘free carpentry method, which goes straight for its purpose’. According to him, the equal width of the parts and the open seams give a calm image. The furniture consists of an honest construction in which nothing is hidden. The avant-garde department store Metz & Co started to sell Rietveld’s ‘Crate Furniture’ in 1935 in Amsterdam and The Hague. They are presented in a separate folder as ‘Weekend Furniture’ for second homes or students chambers.
Literature:
Marijke Küper, Ida van Zijl, ‘Gerrit Th. Rietveld 1888-1964 The Complete Works’, Centraal Museum Utrecht 1992, p. 155-156, no.208;
Petra Timmer, ‘Metz&Co de creatieve jaren’, 010 Publishers Rotterdam 1995, p.104, no. 133.;
Folder ‘Weekend Meubelen’, Metz&Co Amsterdam 1935.
Sold to a private collector.
