Wim Rietveld

Wim Rietveld (1924–1985) was a Dutch industrial and furniture designer. His father was the architect and designer Gerrit Rietveld.

Education Wim Rietveld received a technical education and began his career as a constructor of large equipment; among others, he was employed at Servo Balans, a company specialized in industrial weighing equipment. In 1950 he enrolled as one of the first students of a newly established course in industrial design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.

Design career Because of the high quality of his graduation project, Rietveld was invited by W. H. Gispen to start working for his Gispen furniture company. At that moment, postwar reconstruction was in full force in the Netherlands, and materials were scarce. Rietveld was employed at De Cirkel until 1970. He also worked as a freelancer on various assignments. One of his contractors was Vicon, a producer of farming equipment, from 1959 till 1979. Together with Wim Groeneboom, Rietveld designed the first Amsterdam metro, he drew the Dutch 'standard bus' (1966), and he was contracted by companies such as Werkspoor (train interiors) and Inventum (home appliances).

Teaching From 1960 till 1975, Rietveld was a teacher at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, and from 1970 till 1979 at the Technische Hogeschool (the later University of Technology) in Delft, where he held a professorship from 1973.

Literature