Research about the Steltman Chair:
Gerrit Rietveld, one of Holland's best-known and most innovative architects, designed his last chair for jeweller Steltman's shop at the age of 75. The chair is in the name of the Hague jeweller and royal purveyor Steltman.
The original chairs were upholstered in white artificial leather. The wooden version, which was only built after Rietveld’s death in 1964, is now better known than the original artificial leather upholstery.
The stunning 1963 Steltman Chair was originally commissioned by Steltman jewelers in The Hague, as seating for betrothed couples perusing wedding rings. In fact only two were made, and the surviving one – now in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum - was used as the basis for this limited edition.
Despite the Steltman Chair being such a stayer, much of Rietveld’s other work for the jeweler was short-lived. He was originally commissioned to refurbish the whole chain of shops. However, it soon became clear that Rietveld’s austere design was too modern for Steltman’s conservative clientele and most of the design elements were removed a few years later. We have a fantastic book on Gerrit Rietveld in the store. Richly illustrated with photographs, drawings, paintings and archival materials it shows every period of Rietveld’s work and life, including many previously unpublished images.
This design was originally created for the Steltman Jewellery Shop in the The Hague. It was conceived as both left- and right-hand versions that could be associated to create a single seating element. A remarkable design in which positive and negative space occupy equal resonance, the “Steltman” chair must be regarded as a masterpiece, and was the last chair designed by Rietveld before his death the following year. The two chairs originally created for the jewelry store were upholstered in white leather, and are now lost. According to Tjerd Deelstra, a former pupil of Rietveld at the Delft Technical University, the architect had informed him that the lightly transparent cream stain utilized on this and other designs was selected out of appreciation for the salt-bleached driftwood to be found nearby on the beaches of The Hague.
References:
https://www.phaidon.com/agenda/design/articles/2014/january/22/gerrit-rietveld-s-classic-steltman-chair-is-reissued/
https://www.spectrumdesign.nl/en/collection/steltman-chair/#:~:text=The%20chair%20owes%20its%20name,at%20Noordeinde%20in%20The%20Hague.&text=The%20two%20mirrored%20chairs%2C%20placed,appealed%20directly%20to%20the%20imagination.
https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/masterpieces-by-gerrit-rietveld-from-the-collection-of-michael-maharam
Orthographic set composing of 3 views(top, front, side):
