'Red-Blue chair'

The 20th century Dutch art movement known as 'De Stijl' is perhaps best known by some of the paintings of Piet Mondrian, in which he used a white background, with bold black lines creating spaces which he filled with primary colors. A contemporary of Mondrian and adherent of this style was the Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld. He designed some extremely interesting furniture that embodied the clean lines and bold colors of De Stijl. This example is referred to as his 'Red-Blue chair'. I think the use of colors makes it wonderful to look at. Rietveld said that he usually banged his shins trying to settle into it, but others have said that it is actually more comfortable to sit in than it looks. The red and blue 'planes' are plywood, to make it easier to manufacture. I got to sit on one of his designs, the 'zig-zag' chair, when I was in Holland many years ago. That particular design also doesn't look comfortable, and looks as if it might break at one of the main joints when you use it, and flexes more than you might think, but it works, and it stacks beautifully. There have been several books written about the work of Rietveld. I enjoy good chair design, and a lot of designers and architects over the years have directed their energies at coming up with good examples. A really good chair design has to have a very skillful balance of comfort and visual aesthetics.