Zig Zag Chair – Cassina

Designed by Gerrit Rietveld, this chair provided an early example of a cantilevered seat, and is composed of four wood boards articulated end-to-end to form an extremely eye-catching example of an unstable structure. Eschewing the traditional legs-seat-back sequence, Rietveld created a ribbon of wood forming a Z-shape. The crafts mastery of Cassina’s carpenters is seen in the execution of the dove-tail joints, which add to the beauty of the piece. The aesthetic uniqueness of this piece can be seen particularly well in the coloured version, its open-pore finish highlighting the veins of the wood on the front and sides. This finish reflects a number of variations on the theme made by Rietveld, designed to highlight the relationship between the vertical, oblique and horizontal lines.