Designed 1932-1933; made c. 1935

"Zigzag" Chair

As early as 1927 Gerrit Rietveld experimented with the idea of a one-piece chair. Rietveld regarded this "Zigzag" chair as a variation on one-piece construction, although in reality the chair is made of four pieces of wood. The absence of legs reflects the influence of the cantilevered chairs that had been introduced by a number of European designers in the 1920s. Despite the handcrafted appearance of much of his furniture, including the "Zigzag" chair, Rietveld was preoccupied throughout his career with the possibilities of standardization and mass production. It was not, however, until Verner Panton's stacking chair was put into production in 1968 that the idea of a one-piece chair was realized.