At the invitation of the Rudolf Rock Gallery, I studied Gerrit Rietveld’s Zig Zag chair. The assignment was to recreate the chair using old construction slats.
First, I obtained the book How to Construct Rietveld Furniture and cut a single slat into suitable pieces. While working on it, I had the idea to turn this slat into a marionette and use it as a toy.
I was fascinated by the idea of creating a chair from a single line. This later led to my own interpretation of the Zig Zag Chair on a 1:1 scale.
Encouraged by the gallery owner and classic design dealer Rudolf Rock, I reconstructed a Zig Zag chair from red and white construction laths. (Design Gerrit Rietveld 1932)
I used rejected laths that were gifted to us by the construction company and experimented with them.
First I constructed a marionette from one of the laths and rehearsed a small performance to demonstrate how the chair is created from a single line. Through this “research, I was able to gain some insight into the thought process of the designer Rietveld.
The second chair corresponds to the dimensions of the original chair* and is now on display in the gallery along with other works. Galerie Rudolf Rock, Hirschengraben 3, Zürich. Vernissage Mittwoch, 15. Februar 2024, 18:00 ongoing.
- *Book: Drijver, Peter, and Johannes Niemeijer. Rietveld Meubels Om Zelf Te Maken : [Met Werktekeningen] = How to Construct Rietveld Furniture : [With Working Drawings]. Bussum: Uitgeverij THOTH, 2001. Print.
