Gerrit Rietveld was born in Utrecht, Netherlands in 1888. He began at the age of eleven as an apprentice in his father's workshop and then worked as a draughtsman for a jeweler. At the age of twenty-nine he opened his own furniture shop.
He was a socially committed designer who believed in producing furniture that everyone could afford. He joined the avant-garde De Stijl group of artists and created many modern pieces of furniture while in this movement. He created many simple, skeletal products made of wooden bars and boards such as a piano stool, a child's high chair, and the Military chair. One of his most radical pieces was the wooden Zig-Zag chair, whose base, leg, and seat create a Z.
After the Second World War, he continued working as an architect until his death in 1964.