In 1947, Dutch entrepeneur J.M. Redelé commissioned Gerrit Thomas Rietveld for the renovation and furnishing of his house in Dordrecht, a traditional villa from the 1920s. For this commission, Rietveld worked closely together with Truus Schröder who during the project maintained an extensive correspondence with Mrs. Redelé-Schilthuis about the curtains, upholsteries and other furnishings. A complicating factor was that most materials were still scarce in the post-war years. This led Rietveld and Schröder to be pragmatic but at the same time find innovative solutions such as a floor in which slats from the original parquet were sunk into a rubber-like composite material. For Redelé's study, Rietveld designed a modernist glass ceiling with backlights in combination with a fireplace clad in rustic stone panels. Another interesting choice was Rietveld's use of Limba for the furniture, a type of tropical wood with a highly decorative grain, with solid glass knobs for the drawers. All together, the Redelé interior showed a fresh approach towards ideas which Rietveld had already experimented with in several projects shortly before the war, including the “Moolenbeek” Zig Zag chair. During the project, Redelé asked Rietveld and Schröder to redecorate the offices in his biscuit and chocolate factory as well. This interior has not survived but most furniture from the Redelé house has remained in the family up until now, including the pieces here offered.

The Rietveld-Schröder Archive in Utrecht contains drawings of the present desk and cabinet, along with multiple sketches of the floor plan and an extensive correspondence between Mr. and Mrs. Redele and Gerrit Rietveld and Truus Schröder. The Redelé commission is also recorded in the Rietveld literature, and is noted in what is essentially considered the Rietveld catalogue raisonné: Marijke Kuper and Ida van Zijl, Gerrit Th. Rietveld 1888-1964: The Complete Works, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 1992, p. 224, cat. no. 376.