De Stijl

De Stijl began in the 1917s at first it was a magazine but the a group of like minded Dutchmen planned to call themselves De Stijl. De Stijl was led by architect and painter Theo Doesburg and Piet Mondrian. They used primary colours, red, blue and yellow and they also used the 3 primary values which are black white and grey. All surfaces were painted in primary colours and then divided with straight black lines which was called Neo-plasticsism. They used straight veritcal and horizontal lines, and simplicity. In architecture they kept the roofs flat, geometric forms, patterns and rectangular shapes.

Another desinger who joined later on was Gerrit Rietveld, he always liked experimenting with wood. One of his most famous pieces is the Red/Blue Chair, it purity, spatial harmony, straight lines and firm angles.

Rietveld also designed a house in Utrecht it was called the Schroeder house. He designed it just like every other thing that had to do with De Stijl.

He gave it a flat roof, primary colours and striaght black likes cutting through. As you can see the inside matches the outside and it also have the same colours used. It's all designed in geometric forms and it also has that space he wanted. There's repetition of shapes and simplicity. Today our contemporary homes do have the same form/shape of what Rietveld and the other designers designed but less colour and brightness.

This house design is designed by Steven Ehrlich Architects. Its easy enough to see the comparison between the two houses. Both of them have block shapes, geometrical, repetition of the same shape and straight simplicity of lines. The only difference is the colour. Another design I knew about which was inspired by De Stijl is an album cover which belongs to the White Stripes.

Simplicity, geometry, repetition of shapes, neo-plasticism and straight lines.

LAURA CASEY INTERIORS. 2008. mondrian really?. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.lauracaseyinteriors.com/blog/2008/12/11/mondrianreally/. [Accessed 29 November 13].

Clark & Freeman, P C & J F, 2003. a crash course design. 1st ed. china: sophie collins.