A rebuild of Gerrit Rietveld's 1918 Red and Blue Chair by Seoul studio TIEL, using aluminum profiles, HDPE panels, and 3D-printed joints in place of woodworking.
Seoul-based studio TIEL created P.R.O.O.F., an armchair that takes Gerrit Rietveld's Red and Blue Chair as its starting point. The name stands for Profiling Rietveld on Original Forethought.
The designers replace wood with standardized aluminum profile systems. High-density polyethylene planks form the seat and back. 3D-printed shock mounts in thermoplastic polyurethane connect the planks to the aluminum frame. The material choices prioritize recyclability and flat-pack shipping.
Rietveld designed his chair in 1918 for mass production using readily available parts. TIEL applies that same logic with contemporary materials and manufacturing methods. The aluminum extrusion system makes the structure more rigid than wood while allowing disassembly.
The project emerged from the designers' time at Design Academy Eindhoven, where Rietveld's influence remains strong. Back in Seoul, they translated that Dutch design history through Korean manufacturing capabilities and current sustainability concerns.
The chair ships flat, assembles without specialized tools, and breaks down into fully recyclable components. Each material serves a structural or functional role derived from the original 1918 logic.
