Thonet Bauhaus
Nowadays, it is impossible to imagine life without tubular steel furniture. They are among the milestones of design history and can be found in almost every office or household today. Thonet still produces old Bauhaus classics, whose designs and drafts come from the 1920s and 1930s.
Bauhaus classics at Thonet are chairs, such as the cantilever S 32 and S 64 respectively. The luxurious cantilever chair S 411 is an armchair with black leather and chrome steel elements and just one example of an armchair in Bauhaus look. Discover now the Thonet Bauhaus furniture in our store.
Beginnings of the Bauhaus and tubular steel furniture
1919 sees the birth of the Bauhaus in Weimar. At the same time, the National Assembly takes place, which establishes the Weimar Constitution and lays the foundations for the Weimar Republic. Society and politics were in crisis after the First World War. The massive and decorative style, which had prevailed until then, gradually lost its importance. Many changes led to the fact that the basic forms and aesthetics were completely overtaken.
1919 sees the birth of the Bauhaus in Weimar. At the same time, the National Assembly takes place, which establishes the Weimar Constitution and lays the foundations for the Weimar Republic. Society and politics were in crisis after the First World War. The massive and decorative style, which had prevailed until then, gradually lost its importance. Many changes caused the basic forms and aesthetics to become completely obsolete.
Expressionism and the Dutch De Stijl movement had a significant influence on the emergence of new forms and techniques. For the first time there were experiments with tubular steel in furniture making, promoted by various designers, often in relation to the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus was to be understood first and foremost as an institution, not as a place.
In the mid-1920s, the financial and political situation gradually stabilized. With the stabilization came increased housing construction and a higher demand for furniture. The high demand and the need for new homes and quickly produced furniture led to a simplification of designs. Unnecessary decorative elements were omitted and furniture and houses were reduced to their function.
Aesthetics and designers
The constant simplification of designs is what defines the furniture type and is still produced by Thonet today. The Hungarian Marcel Breuer is considered a pioneer, who was one of the first designers to create tubular steel furniture. The Dutchman Mart Stam invented the chair without back legs, which today many know in the variant as a cantilever chair. Although Stam's design did not rock, it did lay important foundations for modern and functional furniture designs. German Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed the cantilever chair that swings along. This was the first cantilever chair ever. All of these designers had touches of the Bauhaus and drew inspiration and exchange from it.
Marcel Breuer was largely inspired by the De Stijl group. He expanded his knowledge, which was limited to wood. Supposedly, the idea for the tubular steel furniture came to him from the handlebars of his new bicycle. He tried to get the manufacturer of the bicycle to be his production partner, but was unsuccessful. His first collection was initially used mainly to furnish the Bauhaus building and the houses designed by Walter Gropius. His B9 table set was used mainly in the canteen. Together with his compatriot Kálmán Lengyel, Breuer founded the Standard Furniture company in Berlin.
Series production and further development at Thonet
In 1929 Standard furniture was acquired by Thonet. In 1930, Thonet expanded the furniture collection and produced tubular steel furniture. The limits of tubular steel as a material were further tested and tried. Together with Thonet, Marcel Breuer designed other models that are still produced today.
The S 32 cantilever chair remains one of the most iconic and best-selling chairs and tubular steel furniture to this day. It represents a blend of tubular steel and the weave of the Viennese coffeehouse chair with which Thonet made its beginnings.
Today, the sober and reduced style of tubular steel furniture is no longer seen as an antithesis to luxury. To this day, tubular steel is an aesthetic accent that has lost none of its significance. Tubular steel furniture, like everything, is subject to trends and has often been copied and changed. Contemporary, they are still perceived as classics today.