Rietveld s Universe

The foremost designer of the De Stijl group, and the author of its most iconic product, the 1917 Red and Blue chair, Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964) stands today as one of the last century’s most adventurous designers and architects. The iconicity of the Red and Blue chair, and of the Rietveld Schroder House in Utrecht (which was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000), have perhaps overshadowed the incredible scope and longevity of Rietveld’s career, for this consummate modernist polymath designed on every scale, from a bus stop to a small village, and he continued his experiments right up to his death in 1964. Today his works are to be found in the collection of every serious design museum. Rietveld’s Universe is a comprehensive publication on the range of this great designer’s work, reproducing works and presenting new research and perspectives, including contributions by leading international scholars. Focusing on Rietveld’s spatial philosophy and the mutual influences between his work and that of his close contemporaries such as Mondrian, Van Doesburg, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto, it expresses the unity of Rietveld’s modernist pedagogy and affirms the audacity of his vision.