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Truus Shroder Childhood

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“All of us together, of course” are the words of Truus Schroder that live on today through the house that she designed alongside Gerrit Rietveld, the renowned Dutch furniture designer and architect. As a widow, Truus had ideas of family life, specifically that of her children’s upbringing, with which her late husband didn’t necessarily agree. Soon after his death she designed her own home with Rietveld that would embody her ideals fully. She designed her home in a way that contained both unique special arrangement and visual qualities. She decided that she wanted to live without walls, as one single family unit. In 1924, with her home in Utrecht completed, Rietveld moved in with her and her three children, becoming her life partner. Rietveld …show more content…

It became not only a place of living, but also a place that celebrated creative work and innovative thinking. Living without walls opens the door to many possibilities. It is much easier to connect with your children, as was important to Schroder. She felt her children had been neglected while living with their father since every time she left they were then taken care of by a housemaid; she thought this must have been horrible for them and wanted them all to live together. She also wanted to have space in her house in order to celebrate created work. This was accomplished through the design of the upstairs. It itself was a gallery of ideas -- ever-changing each time it was experienced. This atmosphere was very stimulating and put forth a sense of happiness, which was important to her in how she wanted raise her children. Schroder wrote about this atmosphere she wanted to create in one of her letters stating, “This house exudes a strong sense of joy, of real joyousness. […] And that’s absolutely a question of proportions, and also of the light; the light in the house and the light outside. I find it very important that a house has an invigorating atmosphere, that it inspires and supports happiness.” Using open space, natural light, and a modest scale she created a space that embodied happiness and made her children feel comfortable. Also, she felt the way that her children can move and change the space in order to suit their needs gives them the sense that it is their home. The act of designed the space and making it unique to them made them feel

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