design practice and theory 

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You can take a look at the nice images of the Red Blu Chair in these links.

This chair, as a whole, is a sign among other signs. It stands here of course for the * product *, and figures as the fourth sign in peircean semiology, a Dicent Sinsign or the sign that * provides a direct experience of, and information concerning, the semiotic object *. (note 1) 
This semiotic object, the actual design product, contains in  itself as a sign many connotations such as the intentions of the designer, the commercial and social implications, etc.. It is however, unlike what one would expect, not the central, pivoting, sign of the semiotic tree because the main organizing factor is reserved for the fifth sign, the diagrammatic representation of the designers argument. In Rietveld's case the modular space system. 

Before we consider the cabbalistic implications I will consider now some of the visual impacts of the Rietveld chair. 
 

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COLORS 

In abstract real painting primary colors imply color in its most basic aspect. Primary color thus appears very relative - the principal thing is for color to be free of individuality and individual sensations, and to give expression only to the serene emotion of the universal.. (note 2) 

The frame is black, serving his supporting function as unobtrusive as possible, just as it is suiting for servants to the main actors, the seat and backrest, as we can see in the japanese puppet theater Bunraku manipulated by men in black clothes that the public fakes not to see on the background of a black curtain. 

	In Bunraku puppet theater, the dolls are about half life-size. Their eyes, eyebrows, mouths, hands and arms move realistically.  The dolls are operated by three puppeteers that remain visible throughout the play.
image by courtesy of  http://www.ultra-k.com/bunraku/english/puppet.html

The cutting edge of the single frame rods are yellow, indicating (as he explained to us) the truncation of their virtual extension on the three space axes into un endlessness. 

The armrests belong to the same category as the parts that compose the frame: horizontal, black with yellow cutting edges. For Rietveld they contribute, as signs, evidently more to the communication of stability of the structure than to the comfort of the chair. 

The seat is blue, a color associated with horizontally, passivity and the feminine. 

The backrest is red, a color indicating verticality, aggressiveness and the masculine. 

As often in semantics, our search for meaning in Rietveld's formal expressions reveals an apparent traditional social pattern suggesting that the fundaments of human culture are reducible to a few schematic polar categories. This, by the way, is also my fundamental critic to current marketing: to reduce variety of phenomena's of reality, albeit in the interest of product planning, to a few traditional categories like male female, young - not so young, poor - rich, etc., is not likely to produce consistent affection for the planned products in potential users because reality is far more complex. 
 

THE FLOATING IMAGE 

This virtual invisibility of the black supporting frame has the effect, certainly envisaged by Rietveld, of an apparent weightless suspension of the colored seat and backrest. He thus achieved an impression of the main ergonomic elements floating in space. This endeavor for lightness is perhaps best expressed in his buffet. Here the single elements are separated by struts conferring transparency to an normally massive product like a sideboard. 

image by courtesy of http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/glk http://www.danbbs.dk/~nyboe

side-board by G.T.Rietveld, 1919  shown is a copy made in 1951 in accordance with Rietveld's instructions, for the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, as the original was destroyed by fire

Peirce names this category of signs Decent Sinsigns: * It is the initial sign that provides for direct experience of, and information concerning, the semiotic object ... In a comparable dyadic sense, a portrait (icon) wt. the artist's signature (index) informs the onlooker of the sign regarding its subject as well as its author * (note 3) We should read here instead of the portrait * the red blue chair" and the signature should become "the typical Rietveld Style".

In the Cabbala this is the sign of Prophecy  or Nezach (or Netzach). * The Seventh Path is called the Occult Intelligence because it is the refulgent splendor of the intellectual virtues which are perceived by the eyes of the intellect and the contemplation of faith. * (note 4) 

Actually we see here the object of our analysis and we are invited to reflect about Rietveld's intentions. The author warns for misconceptions and superstitions related to this sign. Furthermore he explains that the intellect that is mentioned should not be restricted to logical processes of the concrete mind but to the human mind as a whole, the psyche. It is in other word the sign of creative imagination.