Gerrit Thomas Rietveld

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld was a Dutch architect, designer and craftsman. He was born in Utrecht in 1888 and trained as a cabinetmaker in his carpenter father's workshop. In 1918 he joined the neoplastic artistic movement De Stijl, characterized by the use of line, space and primary colours. Characteristic of Rietveld are in fact the use and processing of wood, both artisanal and elegant: many of his furniture were made with standard size strips, as Rietveld hoped they would be mass-produced, rather than hand-made.