Witteveen High Chair by Gerrit Rietveld

Rietveld Witteveen Child Chair

I found this photo of the Witteveen High Chair (see also my post Design.nl: Two Dutch Musea Acquire Rietveld Baby Chair) on Dutch Design Double which contains an interview with Ingeborg de Roode, industrial design curator at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (City Museum of Modern Art of Amsterdam) at the occasion of 2010 “Dutch Design Double”, two twinned exhibitions in Amsterdam and Utrecht (Centraal Museum), The netherlands each year.

About the Importance of Gerrit Rietveld’s designs in their collection I noted:

Our latest acquisition, a purchase we made in 2008 with the Centraal Museum and the support of different funding bodies: the Witteveen kinderstoel (Witteveen High Chair). The design from 1918 (just before the famous Red and Blue Chair) was a missing link in the Rietveld collection. Previously, we only knew about it from a black-and-white photo because the only existing example had been lost. It had crossed my mind: ‘If we could only find a second example of it…’ It is very clear in this design how Rietveld was, at that time, on some sort of quest. As well as that, I like the small models that Rietveld made of chairs and buildings: all slotting together very simply.

and

Rietveld‘s work forms one of the key elements of our collection. We have many highlights, such as the aforementioned Witteveen High Chair; an early Red and Blue Chair; the prototype of the Zig-Zag Chair; the Birza Chair, which is made from one sheet of fibreboard; the Harrenstein Bedroom; the Aluminium Chair; and the Steltman Chair.

Finally an interesting piece of information about Rietveld’s Aluminum Chairs:

On 22 October, the results of a research into the four known Aluminium chairs by Rietveld will be presented in the Stedelijk Museum. Three chairs belong to public collections, of which one is in the Stedelijk. And the fourth is from a private collection. With the aluminum armchair, Rietveld experimented with material in combination with form (for instance: holes that were meant to provide more sturdiness) and possible methods of production (industrial with the help of fibre board).

Foldable Baby Car Seat: Tot-Pod by Aldo Barreto for Samsonite

Tot Pod by Samsonite

Tot-Pod by Aldo Barreto for Samsonite

Something to outdo Nestt Kid Car Seat? Probably yes, if not in style than in functionality.

Samsonite is a luggage brand so it’s no wonder their chair had to be multifunctional: it’s foldable and it has a carry handle, making it an ideal baby chair to travel with, and it has wheels if you want to use it as a stroller.

Looking like a clam shell when not in use, this ultra-modern, foldable baby car seat has been designed by Canadian designer Aldo Barreto for a competition for luggage company Samsonite. It has an integrated child restraint system, carrying handle and a multi-purpose storage compartment in the back. The Tot-Pod baby car seat can also be converted to a stroller.

Via busyboo.com

Design.nl: Two Dutch Musea Acquire Rietveld Baby Chair

The Future Dutch Finance Minister Witteveen in the kids chair Rietveld made for him

By Editor Design.nl / 04-12-2008

The Centraal Museum in Utrecht and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam have jointly acquired the Gerrit Rietveld child-chair designed in 1918 and produced in 1921-22. The piece makes it possible to track Rietveld’s development towards the Red Blue Chair, an icon in Dutch art history, much more closely.

Gerrit Rietveld (Utrecht 1888-1964) is one of the major innovators of 20th century architecture and design. This child-seat is considered a key element in his oeuvre. Its shape and colour scheme precede the famous Red Blue Chair, which was also designed in 1918, but not painted in the well-known colours until 1923.

In 1919, Magazine De Stijl published the design of the child-seat. Rietveld gave an explanation of the colour-scheme (at the time green, light green and red) and the special construction qualities focussing on the experimental wood connections and dowels. He designed the featured seat for the first child of H.J. Schelling who was born in 1918. That chair is now lost.

No other furniture from this crucial period in Rietveld’s development was known to still exist. Then in 2006, a second child-seat appeared at an auction. This chair was made for Hendrikus Johannes Witteveen, the future minister of Finance who was born in 1921. It is almost identical to the chair owned by the Schelling family. Only one picture of the chair, showing Witteveen as a child sitting in it, survives.

Considering the date of 1921, the seat gives us essential information about the development of Rietveld’s use of colour in that period. He was experimenting with primary colours, which is of great importance for research into his early development. Few works from that period can be dated with such precision.

As far as it is known, this child-seat is the only piece of furniture left from this important period. During this time he lets go of the simple, closed shapes of his early works which were inspired by among others Frank Lloyd Wright and Berlage. Spatial quality becomes the essence of his revolutionary designs where he effortlessly connects to the avant-garde movement, De Stijl.

The chair is on display from today in the “125 Great Loves” exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Design.nl

See for a remake this Chair Blog Post

Mozzee Nest high chair by Sally Dominguez

Mozzee brings you NEST® a high chair that combines minimalist form with superior function. This chair fits babies and children from 6 months to 6 years. The new enhanced NEST® features a larger removable tray for easy cleaning, improved tray position to accommodate small babies and a complimentary 3 in 1 conversion kit that allows you to turn Nest in to Nester a low chair for children up to 6 years of age. Nest has won the coveted Design Mark by Standards Australia.

Designer: Sally Dominguez Made in Australia

Via Design Spotter

BabyC Cradle by Dripta Roy

The BabyC Cradle by Dripta Roy replaces the womb in style

Via Born Rich