Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Zwaan armchair Artifort 1958

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld

Gerrit Thomas Rietveld
Utrecht 1888 – 1964
Architect, furniture designer

Rare armchair designed by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld for Artifort, Holland 1958. This chair was known as the Swan chair by Rietveld, but the catalogue number is Model nr 142 by Artifort. This chair was designed together with Model 143 that was originally designed as the Utrecht chair. This model was shown in the Dutch Pavilion of the 1958 World Expo in Brussels. They were also used in the UNESCO Press Room in Paris. The Press Room no longer exists. Artifort, a Dutch furniture company, had the chairs in its collection for some time, but did not sell many examples. From the Swan no more than 100 chairs were sold. The chair is reupholstered in the original fabric, Taga 05 from de Ploeg, this fabric was still on the chair when bought but totally ruined. Upholstery is completely authentic.

Provenance: dr. Pinxter 1959-1998, Willemien en Henk de Beer 1998-2012. Complete provenance available, written by Willemien de Beer
Literature: Gerrit Th. Rietveld 1888-1964 complete works, Marijke Kuper Ida van Zijl, page 298.