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Originally Posted by notic  thanks for the write ups Rob, very informative. 
the Jeanneret chairs look a lot like the tubular designs of marcel breuer . i read somewhere that breuer was inspired by his bicycle frame when he designed the wassily chair. would you happen to know who pioneered that design? |
You are right notic, Breuer was inspired by his bicycle.
Tubular steel became a popular material for furniture in the 1930s. Breuer's Wassily chair is noted as being the first tubular steel chair. It should be acknowledged that the bentwood furniture of Michael Thonet, produced since the 1850s must have been influential.
Thonet bentwood furniture was probably the first true mass-production product and Gebrüder Thonet was likely the first global brand.
Marcel Breuer's famous chair from 1925 was the first chair to use tubular steel, he created it while he was a student at the Bauhaus art school. The chair was named "Wassily" in the 1960s (for marketing) in honour of Breuer's fellow Bauhaus colleague, the painter Wassily Kandinsky.
The Dutch architect Mart Stam created the first cantilever chair made from iron pipes in 1926. His prototype was developed into a steel production model in 1927.
Mies van der Rohe's MR chair, 1927
Marcel Breuer cantilever chairs from 1929.
Mies van der Rohe cantilevered "Brno" chair. Tubular and flat steel versions, 1930.
Mart Stam steel cantilever chair 1931
The Finnish architect Alvar Aalto was creating similarly modern designs but using plywood. Some of my favourite furniture designs.
1931/32
1936/37
