In spirit and stature, Marcel Breuer's Wassily Chair (1925) from Knoll has few equals. Believed to be the first bent tubular steel chair design, the Wassily Chair distills the traditional club chair to a series of strong, spare lines, executed with dynamic material counterpoint. The gleaming chrome-finished tubular steel frame-inspired by the graceful, curving handlebars of the Adler bicycle-is seamless in its assemblage. Thick cowhide leather slings create the design's seating surfaces, which maintain their crisp tautness for decades. Named for Wassily Kandinsky, the father of abstract painting and a colleague of Breuer's at the Bauhaus, the Wassily Chair is a symbol of the industrial heroism and engineering invention of the early 20th century. Made in Italy.
Each piece is stamped with the KnollStudio logo and the designer's signature. The Wassily Chair is a registered trademark of Knoll, Inc., manufactured by Knoll according to the original and exacting specifications of the designer.
Are any ideas really new? Case in point: while Marcel Breuer's tubular steel chairs were a daring departure from traditional wood furniture, this "radical" idea was sparked by Breuer's familiar bicycle handlebars. "Mass production," he said, "...made me interested in polished metal, in shiny and impeccable lines in space, as new components of our interiors. I considered such polished and curved lines not only symbolic of our modern technology but actually to be technology."
Drawing upon this image of "shiny and impeccable lines in space" Breuer designed his famous Wassilly chair in 1925 for Wassilly Kandinsky while both were in residence at the Bauhaus. Breuer subsequently designed a range of tubular metal furniture that had singular advantages affordability, hygiene and an inherent resilience. Breuer considered his designs essential for modern living. Read more >
