Search

Design Crossover: The Berlin Chair

There is just something about brilliant design that enables it to inspire and cross over into many different disciplines of design. For example, the Rietveld Berlin Chair, designed by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld in 1923.

Photo: Mutual Art

Photo: Mutual Art

The original name for this chair was The Berlin Chair because it was designed to be part of an exposition in Berlin, but it was later referred to as “the plank chair”. Asymmetry and the use of flat panels are the two defining elements of this design. You might see a very similar chair around because it was designed with a mirror image twin.

Here are just a few products that have either directly or indirectly been inspired by this geometric furniture design:

Photo: Vogue Netherlands

Photo: Vogue Netherlands

Beauty
This nail design is part of a project between Vogue Netherlands and Love Aesthetics, where they give weekly tutorials on how to create cool nail designs. One week, they created a tutorial for nail designs that were reinterpreted by the Berlin Chair.

Photo: Eileen Fisher

Photo: Eileen Fisher

Fashion
This asymmetrical black and white outfit from Eileen Fisher is one way to wear your love for The Berlin Chair. Even with the natural curves of a human body, these three beautiful pieces express the same geometric, bold design as the classic chair.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Architecture
Another design by Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, this modern home was originally designed for Mrs. Truus Schroder-Schrader, hence the name The Schroder House.

The house makes no attempt to relate to the surrounding architecture and the interior design is mostly open, as the house was commissioned to be made preferably without walls. Much like the chair design, the exterior of this structure was designed with collage of planes and lines.

Photo: Mayak Design

Photo: Mayak Design

Jewelry
A ring, which is supposed to fit around your finger, is typically round. However, this block-style ring from Etsy is reminiscent of the geometric panels used to make the infamous chair.

Photo: You Tube

Photo: You Tube

Music
The Australian band You Am I named the second single of their 1994 album after the handsome Berlin Chair. To put it simply, as described by biographer Craig Mathieson, the single is titled after an object that seems hard and impenetrable, much like the male ego.

What else have you seen that could have been inspired by this iconic chair?

Cori is a freelance Graphic Designer with a background in Interior Design, currently living in Los Angeles. She has paired her design and marketing knowledge to start a freelance career that combines both graphic design and interior design. When she's not working on an editorial layout, blog design, identity or illustration, she's contributing on design blogs or rambling on on her own.