The work of Gerrit T. Rietveld is defined by continual experimentation. The brilliant Dutch architect of neoplasticism designed and proposed numerous variations on his most famous models. Cassina, in search of the most hidden and authentic sides of each architect, has rediscovered several variations on the “Zig Zag” chair, an icon already in production in the Cassina I Maestri Collection, to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the acquisition of the exclusive worldwide reproduction rights to his designs.
Rietveld, designer, architect but also urbanist, loved raw surfaces and sometimes whitened wood with natural reagents such as sunlight or salt. The architect created several variations of the “Zig Zag” chair, including some with varnished colours and white sections, which are displayed at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht.
With this in mind, Cassina is now presenting the “Zig Zag” chair in natural ash and in a coloured version with an open pore finish that enhances the woodgrain, applying pure colours (red, blue, yellow) and non-colours (white, black) on the surfaces and natural ash on the lateral sections.
An interpretation created with the consent of Rietveld’s heirs, which, precisely because they are not unquestioning and rigid, adheres completely to the architect’s design philosophy.
According to neoplastic theory, colour makes it possible to neutralize form. A process of de-materialization further highlights the rhythmic sequence of the reversed z shape, emphasizing the relationship between the vertical, oblique and horizontal lines. Cassina thus recovers the sensory element of the material and combines this with a flexible use of colour, typical of Rietveld who emphasized the intersection between infinite graphic lines in his designs.
37 x 43 x H 74/43 cm
Designer: Gerrit Thomas Rietveld
Italy
