Gerrit Rietveld, Holland, 1935

Produced by Gerard van de Groenekan, Utrecht.

The first chair in our exhibition "Furniture by Architects" to be designed for mass production instead of a specific building, the Crate series of furniture was Rietveld’s attempt during the Great Depression of the 1930s to create low-cost designs from the cheapest of materials. The furniture was distributed by Metz & Co., the Dutch department store. Plans for the Crate chair have been widely circulated over the years in “Do It Yourself” manuals, and today original examples such as this one are in the collections of numerous museums, including Brooklyn, SFMOMA, Vitra and the V&A.

25" L x 21" W x 32.75" H / 63.5cm L x 53.3cm W x 83.2cm H

LC1272