Zig Zag Chair by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld

145Designed 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 aesthetic uniqueness of this piece can be seen particularly well in the colored version, its open-pore finish highlighting the veins of the wood on the front and sides.