MA-g
The Museum of Avant-garde

Piet Zwart

The Netherlands (1885—1977)
Trained as architect, Zwart began working as a designer in the Arts and Crafts movement. In 1917 he turned his attention to the newly formed De Stijl movement, absorbing its principles, the use of colour and geometry. From 1919 he taught at the Rotterdam Academy of Visual Arts, and he lectured occasionally at the Bauhaus. He became member of the Ring neuer Werbegestalter, the Dutch avant-garde group of advertising designers. He was commissioned The Book of PPT for the Dutch post and various design projects for NKD (Nederlandse Kabelfabriek Delft). For them Zwart experimented with photography and often used photocollage. From 1930 he was employed for Bruynzeel Company, designing merchandising items, but also new modular kitchens, still fundamentally unchanged today.