Advertisements
Marcel Bruer Replica Chair

Marcel Breuer’s Bauhaus minimalism redefined a household basic To paraphrase the great comic-strip possum Pogo, “We have seen chairs, and they are us.” This quote highlights the human tendency to anthropomorphize objects and assign them human qualities. It also suggests that our creations, such as chairs, are a reflection of ourselves and our needs.

European Design Festival Awards

A chair is never just a chair, unlike a useful table or a plain but inviting bed. Because of this and the fact that chairs are everywhere (at least in the West), some of the best architects and designers of the 20th century, like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Charles and Ray Eames, and Frank Gehry, saw them as a big challenge. In the early 1920s, Europeans who went to the Bauhaus school in Germany were some of the most important people who tried to change the chair. Bauhaus designers made chairs that were light, strong, and simple by bending metal and combining it with canvas, caning, or leather, just like the bentwood furniture made by the Austrian and German Thonet company in the 1800s. With these chairs, the industrial age took a big step forwards. Marcel Breuer, a Hungarian architect and furniture maker who went to the Bauhaus and became one of its most important teachers, was one of the first to make chairs out of tubular steel. The B5 chair, made by Breuer in 1926, was just added to the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City.

Marcel Bruer’s Biography

Breuer was born in 1902 in Pecs, Hungary. He is one of the people who started the Modernist movement, and his ideas were key to combining form and function in the simplest way possible. The B5 is one of two groundbreaking Breuer chairs that were a big change from the overstuffed chairs of the Edwardian era and helped start a new way of looking at furniture. The other is the B3 armchair, which was made the year before. It became known as the Wassily Chair because the painter Wassily Kandinsky, also on the Bauhaus faculty, liked it and had one. Both chairs, especially the B5, have a simple elegance that shows how clearly Breuer and his partner Walter Gropius made their buildings. But because a chair is easier to design than a building, the B5 is considered one of the best examples of modern design. After more than 80 years, it still seems new. Rob Forbes, who started the store Design Within Reach, says it looks like “Shaker meets Bauhaus.” He says, “This is a great piece, and I chose it for our first catalogue.

ICFF Furniture Fair NYC

Don Chadwick, who helped design the popular Aeron office chair, agrees: “The side chair is one of the first attempts to industrialise bent steel tubing as the support structure for the sling seating surfaces. It is very pure and simple.”

Breuer’s first bent metal designs were made of aluminium, which is the most common modern metal. However, aluminium was expensive and hard to weld, so the designer quickly switched to tubular steel. The one that is now at the Cooper-Hewitt was a rare find. It was bought at an auction in New York City last spring. “”This is a vintage piece,” says Coffin. “It has chrome-plated steel tubes and the original Eisengarn [iron yarn] canvas fabric that Breuer used. The first chairs were black, green, reddish-brown, and blue. This one used to be red, but with time it has turned a shade of brown.”

Bauhaus banner ad

In the 1930s, when Hitler came to power, Breuer left Germany for England, where he continued to try out new materials. It was there that he made the Long Chair, which is made of laminated wood that has been shaped. He then moved to the United States. He taught at Harvard with his friend Gropius. He taught Philip Johnson and others the Modernist creed. Later, Breuer made plans for houses and big buildings in cities, like the Unesco headquarters in Paris. He died at the age of 79 in New York City in 1981, but exact copies of the B5 are still being made. The B5 was very different for its time, but now it seems so logical. It is both delicate and strong, and its proportions are very happy and compact.

Sources

Magazine, Smithsonian, and Owen Edwards. “Breuer Chair, 1926.” Smithsonian Magazine, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/breuer-chair-1926-16379045. Accessed 13 Mar. 2023.

Advertisements

Furniture books – Amazon

* This website may contain affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission when you click on links at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon and Sovrn affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Advertisements

Design News

MoMA Design Store Named Exclusive U.S. Partner With George Sowden Lighting Collection

The Sowden Lighting Collection is coming to the MoMA design store. The store has partnered with George Sowden as the exclusive U.S. distributor of his collection, first unveiled during Milan Design Week in 2022. Sowden developed an expanded lighting collection made up of conceptually expressive floor, table and pendant lights, as well as an all-new portable lamp styles.

‘Ted Lasso’: How Versace and ‘Star Wars’ Influenced the Production Design of Rupert’s Office

As the new season of ” Ted Lasso ” returned to Apple TV+ Wednesday, audiences will see some new faces and places. Season 2 of the Emmy-winning series ended with rising PR star Keeley Jones (Juno Temple) striking out on her own, preparing to launch her own firm.

This Immaculately Preserved 1920s Art deco Bathroom Belongs in a Museum

The art deco era may have happened a long time ago but it is still a popular vintage look that many homeowners strive to achieve in their homes. Art Deco was an extremely- and still is- popular design style of the 1920’s trialing into the 30’s.

More on Furniture Design

  • No. 22 Diamond Chair by Harry Bertoia

    No. 22 Diamond Chair by Harry Bertoia

    No. 22 Diamond Chair by Harry Bertoia. Many would argue that this is more of a sculpture than a chair. READ MORERead More →


    Learn More

  • George Nelson (1907 – 1986) American voice on design

    George Nelson (1907 – 1986) American voice on design

    George Nelson (1907 – 1986) was an American industrial designer. His Storagewall shelf system, which he made in 1945, changed the way offices worked. The Marshmallow sofa from the 1950s is one of his best-known pieces.Read More →


    Learn More

  • Gustav Stickley (1858 – 1942) American furniture designer

    Gustav Stickley (1858 – 1942)  American furniture designer

    His German name, Stoeckel, was anglicised to Stickley by his émigré parents. In Pennsylvania, he worked in his uncle’s chair manufacturing with his brothers. Stickley brothers Gustav, Charles, Albert, Leopold, and John George all worked in the furniture industry.Read More →


    Learn More

  • Billy Wilder Chaise Lounge by Charles and Ray Eames

    Billy Wilder Chaise Lounge by Charles and Ray Eames

    The Wilder Chaise 1968 Lounge is a masterpiece of design created by Charles and Ray Eames, featuring a nylon-coated cast aluminium frame and base with a leather-covered polyurethane foam upholstered seating section. It is functional and adds elegance to any living space.Read More →


    Learn More

  • Richard Schultz (1930 – 2021) American sculptor and furniture designer

    Richard Schultz (1930 – 2021) American sculptor and furniture designer

    In 1951, he became a member of Knoll’s design development group. Initially, he collaborated on the wire Diamond sitting collection with Harry Bertoia. Schultz designed the Petal table in 1960, steel-wire lounge chairs in 1961, and outdoor Leisure Collection seating and tables in 1966 for Knoll. He designed a 1981 collection of outdoor furniture while…


    Learn More

  • Russel Wright (1904 – 1976) American Industrial Designer

    Russel Wright (1904 – 1976) American Industrial Designer

    Wright’s design philosophy was based on the idea that the table was the heart of the home. He developed everything from tableware to larger furniture, architecture to landscaping, all of which promote comfortable, informal living.Read More →


    Learn More

  • Extension Table a perfect design for small spaces

    Extension Table a perfect design for small spaces

    An extension table is a table whose length can be increased by inserting a leaf or leaves. The Pulman Extension Table is made of durable solid wood and can be used in various settings.Read More →


    Learn More

  • Lisa Krohn (b.1963) American Industrial Designer

    Lisa Krohn (b.1963) American Industrial Designer

    Lisa Krohn studied three-dimensional form with Rowena Reed Kostello, New York, between 1985 and 1986. From 1985 to 1985, she studied art history and visual arts at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. From 1988 to 1988, she was a student at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.Read More →


    Learn More

  • Mission Furniture – Design Dictionary Term

    Mission Furniture – Design Dictionary Term

    The term mission furniture was first popularized by Joseph P. McHugh of New York, a furniture manufacturer and retailer. The word mission references the Spanish missions throughout colonial California. The style became increasingly popular following the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo.Read More →


    Learn More

  • Tracy Fong (b.1975) American Furniture Designer

    Tracy Fong (b.1975) American Furniture Designer

    Tracy Fong is an American furniture designer who created a new version of an old Asian style by mixing traditional rattan with high-end woods, leathers, and geometric shapes. Her work is rooted in a meticulous artisan ethic and was shown at the 1991 New York International Contemporary Furniture Fair.Read More →


    Learn More

  • Reuben Cary (1845 – 1933) American furniture designer

    Reuben Cary (1845 – 1933) American furniture designer

    Cary’s father moved to the Adirondacks area of New York State in the year 1845. In 1874, Brandreth asked Cary to make him 24 chairs with slatted backs, plain turned legs, and splint seats in a traditional style. Cary may have made some of the rustic furniture in the cottages at Brandreth Park.Read More →


    Learn More

  • John Mascheroni (b.1932), American furniture designer

    John Mascheroni (b.1932), American furniture designer

    John Mascheroni has been designing furniture for his entire career, recognized for his design acuity and modernism. LEARN MORERead More →


    Learn More

  • Francis H. Bacon (1856 – 1940) American Furniture Designer

    Francis H. Bacon (1856 – 1940) American Furniture Designer

    He was a designer for furniture maker Herter Brothers, commissioned by the company to furnish the New York William H. Vanderbilt House, 1881-83. LEARN MORERead More →


    Learn More

  • Sam Maloof (1916 – 2009) American furniture designer

    Sam Maloof (1916 – 2009) American furniture designer

    The furniture designed by Sam Maloof can be found in every imaginable place in the United States, from boardrooms to bungalows, from the White House to the Smithsonian. READ MORERead More →


    Learn More

  • One of America’s Most Historic Hotels – Mission Inn

    One of America’s Most Historic Hotels – Mission Inn

    Frank Miller built the Mission Inn for people passing through California in the 1800s. It’s a Spanish-colonial-style hotel, which has been remodelled many times over time, with plenty of onsite production – such as balconies, light fixtures, and door handles.Read More →


    Learn More

  • George Nakashima (1905 – 1990) American woodworker and designer

    George Nakashima (1905 – 1990) American woodworker and designer

    In 1934, he worked in the Indian office of American architect Antonin Raymond. In 1937, in the Tokyo office, he studied Japanese carpentry techniques. In 1941, he set up his first workshop in Seattle. In 1942 in Idaho, Nakashima studied with an old Japanese carpenter until Antonin Raymond arranged his release. Read More →


    Learn More

  • Emeco American Designer Furniture

    Emeco American Designer Furniture

    Wilton C. Dinges founded the Electric Machine and Equipment Company (Emeco) in 1944 with $300 in savings and a used lathe for machine work. He started bidding on government manufacturing contracts out of a loft in Baltimore, Maryland, beginning with experimental antennas and jet engine parts. Read More →


    Learn More

  • Outdoor Seating & Table System for Moroso M’Afrique by Marc Thorpe

    Outdoor Seating & Table System for Moroso M’Afrique by Marc Thorpe

    Eight years into their collaborative relationship, New York-based designer Marc Thorpe is launching his latest piece for Moroso for their outdoor collection called Moroso M’Afrique. DayTrip comprises various components that are used as low tables and benches that pay homage to the Italian brand’s multi-cultural ethos. The design allows the user to create a composition for…


    Learn More

  • Wharton Esherick (1887 – 1970) American Sculptor and Furniture Designer

    Wharton Esherick (1887 – 1970) American Sculptor and Furniture Designer

    As a result, his sculptural furniture and furnishings are his most well-known works. For his leadership in designing non-traditional designs and supporting and inspiring artists/craftspeople by example, Esherick was dubbed the “dean of American artisans” by his peers during his lifetime. Esherick’s impact can still be apparent in contemporary artisans’ work, especially in the Studio…


    Learn More

  • Muffy VanderBear Portrait Chair

    Muffy VanderBear Portrait Chair

    Barbara Isenberg of New York inspected store inventories of soft toys in the mid-1970s and found them deficient. Isenberg wanted a teddy bear for her small kid that had the same quality, charm, and cozy textures as the ones she remembered from her youth. Read More →


    Learn More

  • Edward Wormley (1907 – 1995) American furniture designer

    Edward Wormley (1907 – 1995) American furniture designer

    He worked as a designer for Dunbar Furniture of Indiana in New York from 1931 to 1941, improving the company’s variety of wood and upholstered furniture to appeal to a wide range of interests.Read More →


    Learn More

More design articles

Advertisements

❤️ Receive our newsletter

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.