In this context, I can't help hating the story of the Rietveld chair. As I understand it, Rietveld intended to design furniture that would be widely popular an

In this context, I can't help hating the story of the Rietveld chair. As I understand it, Rietveld intended to design furniture that would be widely popular and enjoyed, and the simple design of his chair was influenced by his anticipation of mass production. If you look at the chair and see a reflection of his delusion about or indifference to the experience of the masses of ordinary people he hoped would sit in it, it doesn't look so good. Yet it became famous because it had value when viewed as art. The story of a designer who created an uncomfortable chair that none of his intended users wanted, yet it (and he) ended up being famous design icons... that isn't the story I want designers to think about as they work on a product I will end up using ;-)