By Porter Lang
Count the parts. Wikipedia’s article on the Zig-Zag Chair says it is made from four flat wooden slabs joined in a Z, with no legs. That is the whole chair, and it is why it is so easy to copy and so hard to date.
What the chair is
According to Wikipedia, the Zig-Zag was designed for Gerrit Rietveld’s Schröder House in Utrecht. The article gives the date as sometime between 1932 and 1934, while its entry on Rietveld says 1934, and Architonic, a design-trade directory, also dates it to 1934. We leave the span open. The joints are dovetailed and secured with bolts or screws, and the original wood was elm. The article says current production uses pine, and also says licensed production is in cherry or ash. Those are two statements about the present, and the article does not reconcile them.
Who may make it
Here is the point a buyer needs. Architonic says Cassina holds the exclusive worldwide reproduction rights to Rietveld’s designs and that its 2004 Zig-Zag was made with the consent of Rietveld’s heirs. Wikipedia says the chair is made under licence by Cassina and that other manufacturers make unlicensed knock-offs. The two pages agree on the licence. They do not agree on the wood: Architonic’s product line says cherry, stained a natural colour, and its text about the design describes ash, so the page contradicts itself. Take that as a reason to read the specification you are actually given, not the general description.
Old pieces and dealer language
Dealer listings on 1stDibs, a marketplace, describe a Utrecht cabinetmaker who executed Rietveld’s designs, and list Zig-Zag chairs dated from the late 1950s to about 1969. The page itself says the dates are sellers’ estimates and that the platform does not check authenticity. It describes one chair as signed with a manufacturer’s mark on the underside, and another piece as double-stamped with a maker’s name and “Cassina”. It also lists a pine Zig-Zag described as made by a local craftsman. That last item is a useful reminder that “Zig-Zag” can describe a form as well as a licensed product. The page says anyone relying on its attributions should seek independent confirmation from a specialist or documentation, and we pass that on.
The Red and Blue chair, for contrast
Rietveld’s earlier chair shows how loosely a “genuine” version can be defined. Wikipedia says the Red and Blue Chair was designed in 1917, though its infobox gives 1918, and was painted in its colours around 1923. The original was unstained beech. The Rietveld Schröder House’s own site says the chair was designed around 1919 and is made of 15 beechwood slats and 2 rectangular panels. So three dates for one chair: 1917, 1918 and around 1919.
Wikipedia adds that Rietveld never set an authoritative specification for measurements or colours, so versions vary. The article lists versions in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the High Museum of Art and the Toledo Museum of Art. That variation is the practical lesson. If the designer left the colours and sizes open, then colour and size alone cannot tell you whether a chair is old, licensed or copied.
The man and the house
Wikipedia says Rietveld was born in Utrecht, the son of a joiner, and apprenticed with his father after leaving school at 11. He worked as a draughtsman for a jeweller from 1906 to 1911 and opened his own furniture workshop in 1917. The Schröder House, on the Prins Hendriklaan, dates from 1924 and has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2000, according to Wikipedia and UNESCO. The house’s museum site says Rietveld lived there from 1957, after his wife died, until his death in 1964. Wikipedia says the house is run as a museum by the Centraal Museum, and the national tourism board says that museum shows iconic Rietveld designs.
Dates in order
- 1888: Rietveld born in Utrecht. Wikipedia’s infobox says 24 June; its text says August.
- 1917: own furniture workshop; Red and Blue Chair designed, according to Wikipedia.
- Around 1923: the chair painted in its colours, according to Wikipedia.
- 1924: Schröder House built, according to Wikipedia and UNESCO.
- 1932 to 1934: Zig-Zag designed, according to Wikipedia; 1934 according to Architonic and Wikipedia’s Rietveld article.
- 1964: Rietveld dies in Utrecht, according to Wikipedia.
- 2000: UNESCO listing.
- 2004: Cassina’s Zig-Zag version, according to Architonic.
Side by side
Wikipedia: elm originally, pine now, cherry or ash under licence. Architonic: cherry in the listing, ash in the concept text. 1stDibs: late 1950s to 1969 dates, all seller estimates. Our reading: no single page here tells a buyer how to authenticate a chair, and we are not offering a test. What the pages do support is narrower. A licence exists, copies exist, the designer left some details loose, and a seller’s description is not proof.
What kind of sources these are
Wikipedia (open encyclopaedia), UNESCO (heritage body), Architonic (a trade directory for a manufacturer’s range), the Rietveld Schröder House site (a museum describing itself) and 1stDibs (a dealer marketplace, with sellers’ own descriptions). We found no Cassina or museum page that explains how to authenticate a chair, and we read no catalogue raisonné.
Questions a buyer would ask
Who holds the rights? Cassina, according to Architonic. Is a copy illegal? The sources call them unlicensed; they do not give a legal view. How do I know mine is old? These pages do not say, and a specialist is the sensible route. We have left out prices, dimensions of any particular chair, and auction results.
What we left out
Sale prices, the 2008 fire in Delft, the limited edition with a design studio, and any claim about a particular seller’s chair.
Quick answers
- Who makes the Zig-Zag chair under licence? According to Architonic, a design trade directory, Cassina holds the exclusive worldwide reproduction rights to Rietveld’s designs.
- How is the Zig-Zag chair built? Wikipedia says four flat wooden slabs form a Z shape, joined with dovetails and secured by bolts or screws.
- When was the Red and Blue Chair designed? Sources differ: Wikipedia says 1917 in its text and 1918 in its infobox, and the Schröder House museum site says around 1919.
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Roam first. Shop later.