background, while Tiès, by Ties Honcoop, had a pattern of black described the Ideal Apartment and the polyester “wet area” unit
wine bottles and glasses on a white background. Rietveld chose as “promises for the future.”
the furniture from the product catalogues of established Dutch Even more unexpected was Rietveld’s design for the 8,000
companies like De Cirkel (desk, chair), Artiforte, a Rotterdamn- square foot Dutch textile exhibition, in which display platforms
based lighting manufacturer (floor lamp) and Auping (beds), in were linked through enormous free-form walls of plastered wire
addition to several pieces of furniture he designed himself. mesh. As Rietveld described it, he wanted to present textiles and
Directly outside the Ideal Apartment was a showcase of prod- garments within a fairy-tale atmosphere. He collaborated closely
ucts by Dutch companies promoting “well-designed” domes- with graphic designer Jan Bons, who also designed the Dutch
tic goods. These companies supported the tenets of the Goed pavilion’s logo of a mooring post. They were assisted by win-
Wonen (Good Living) foundation, an organization founded in dow dressers from the Bijenkorf (Beehive) department store in
1946 and then at the height of its influence. For this exhibition, Rotterdam (designed by Marcel Breuer, 1957), under the supervi-
Gerrit and Jan Rietveld designed podia for furniture and other sion of Wim Smits, a leading Dutch display designer. Since WWII,
products and well-proportioned display cases for ceramics, met- the Bijenkorf had been instrumental in redefining the concept of
alwork and glass. The beautiful “Unica” and “Serica” glasswork window display in the Netherlands.
produced by Royal Leerdam Glassworks was exhibited under the The flooring of the display platforms was made of raw natural
guidance of Andries Copier, one of their best-known designers. materials like sand, pebbles and slices of tree trunks. Clothing
Save for a few slightly negative reactions, the press kept quiet, was displayed on mannequin torsos, originally designed for the
not sure what to write about this unexpected side of Rietveld. Bijenkorf, and on a wide variety of unrelated objects such as
His use of voluptuously patterned wallpaper, for example, did garden chairs, a wrecked rowing boat and even scaffolds left
not square with his image as a pure modernist. One positive over from the construction of the exhibit. Fabrics suspended from
response came from Belgian architect Willy van der Meeren, who the 30-foot-high ceiling contributed to the magical atmosphere.
Below View towards the passenger deck of the ocean liner exhibit in the transport pavilion. To the left, the dome of the hydraulic
engineering exhibit can be seen in the polder area.
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