Bedside Tables attributed to Wim Rietveld for Auping, 1950s, Set of 2

The History of Wim Rietveld

Wim Rietveld was the youngest son of the world famous architect and design innovator Gerrit Rietveld. Though Wim Rietveld initially went to school to study to become a tool maker, in 1950 he started to attend evening classes in industrial design at the Hague Academy. Rietveld then got a job as a designer at Gispen after W.H. Gispen left the company, and introduced the concept of 'Furniture for a Simple Interior' as part of the Good Living style. Mainly designing office furniture and lighting, the 1407 chair he created with Andre Cordemeijer received the top prize at the 10th Milan Triennale in 1954. His ethos, in regards to his designs, was 'well shaped, solid, practical and cheap’. This impressed the Technical University in Delft, so in 1973 they offered him the position as an 'extraordinary academic' with the department for Industrial Design.

How to Spot a Wim Rietveld

Wim Rietveld’s furniture is simple, functional and elegant - be it the classic school-style Gispen 116 chairs, which is practical, sturdy and aesthetically appealing, or the artistic Industrial Reply stool and desk set, which plays on the notion of empty space and traditional design. Mostly working in neutral tones of metal and wood, Wim Rietveld occasionally introduced flashes of blues and reds - whether it's the blue and black 1407 chair or a simple red Armchair. While the Panama lamp no. 4050 is metallic and simple, his Table lamp features a yellow body and red shade - with the early Gispen storage system also showcasing a range of different shades.

Wim Rietveld’s Notable Designs

One of Wim Rietveld most recognizable pieces is the Pyramid chair, which is a highly sought after example of modernist industrial design.. Beyond office and domestic furniture and lighting, Wim Rietveld was also a renowned designer of machinery, boards, trains and household appliances. He actually considered himself an industrial designer, rather than a designer. He also designed agricultural machinery for Vicon and stoves, hot plates and a coffee maker for Inventum.

In 1888, blacksmith Johannes Auping of Deventer, the Netherlands, was commissioned by a local hospital to construct a bed that was more hygienic than the straw mattresses in use at the time.  Working with steel, he designed a mattress that consisted of braided wires joined to a metal frame. Two years later, the Civil Hospital in Amsterdam commissioned the first major order of forty beds. After some adjustments to the original, Auping marketed the new design as a “healthy steel mattress”—with unprecedented capacity for ventilation due to airflow between the steel wires. The high demand for the newfangled mattress allowed Auping to open his eponymous factory in his hometown in 1912.

In the postwar boom era, the Auping company began to collaborate with renowned Dutch designers on an expanded product line. Highlights from this collectible phase of Auping’s history include Dick Cordemeijer’s Cleopatra Daybed (1953), Wim Rietveld’s Arielle Daybed (1955), Friso Kramer’s Euroika Tables (1963), and Frans de la Haye’s Auronde Bed (1973). The Auronde and Cleopatra remain Auping’s most successful designs to date, each having sold over a million models.  

Auping obtained the addition of “Royal” to their name for their 100th anniversary and are now known as Koninklijke Auping BV in Dutch. Today, the company is the largest independent manufacturer of beds in the Netherlands, with a reputation for high quality products, innovative designs, and lasting comfort. Recent designer collaborations include projects with Piet Hein Eek, Thomas Althaus, and Jan des Bouvrie. Auping’s product line—beds, box springs, mattresses, mesh bases, tables, and chairs—are solely manufactured in the Netherlands and have won various awards over the years, such as the Red Dot Award and Cradle to Cradle certification for utilizing of more than 50% recycled materials.