Gerrit Th. Rietveld (1888-1964).
Lage ‘Krattafel’, Low ‘Crate Table’
Metz&Co Amsterdam, The Hague from 1935.
Unpainted spruce, visibly assembled with brass screws.
Dim. 63 x 49 x 47 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. A small desk was added to the series a year later.
Free Carpentry Method
Rietveld described this 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. Rietveld preferred to see the crate furniture unpainted like the table her on offer.
Weekend Furniture
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.
Provenance:
Mr. Jaap Slot, deputy director of the Metz & Co projects department.
Sold at the BRAFA Art fair in Brussels, February 2023.
