Gerrit Thomas Rietveld Utrecht 24 June 1888 – Utrecht 26 June 1964
As
De Stijl innovator Gerrit Thomas Rietveld was one of the incredibly
innoavtive at his time. He is now of the most important designers of
the twentieth century.
Rietveld learned cabinet making from his
father with whom he worked between the ages of 12 to 15. After leaving
the family workshop, he trained as a draughtsman at the CJA Begeer
goldsmith workshop, before qualifying as an architect in 1919.
He
was a nominated an honorary member of the Bond van Nederlandse
Architecten in 1963 and in 1964, he was awarded an honorary degree from
the Technische Hochschule in Delft.