Archival Series

Breuer began his career as a furniture designer. He excelled in his carpentry studies at the Bauhaus, eventually heading the workshop. His early experiments in wood owed much to the De Stijl movement, in particular the furniture of Gerrit Rietveld. The first real breakthrough occurred in 1925, when, inspired by the frame of a new bicycle, he began to design chairs in tubular steel. Breuer eventually designed a whole line of tubular steel furniture, marketing the pieces through his own company, Standard Möbel. Licensing agreements with furniture manufacturers such as Thonet soon followed. Breuer began working in aluminum in 1932 eventually winning an international competition in Paris. After immigrating to London in 1935, he entered into an agreement with the Isokon Furniture Company, headed by Jack Pritchard. For Isokon, he produced some notable designs in plywood, including the long chair and nesting tables. Breuer continued to experiment with plywood construction after moving to the United States in 1937. He designed a number of custom pieces for clients but did not succeed in interesting manufacturers in his furniture. 

The Furniture series collects materials related to Breuer's furniture designs and furniture business dealings. This series contains several hundred original furniture drawings, and represents the four major phases of Breuer's furniture work -- wood, tubular steel, aluminum and bent plywood.. This series also contains correspondence (1920s-1960s) with manufacturers and distributors of Breuer furniture (Thonet, Embru, Isokon, Gavina), correspondence with patent attorneys and agencies (including patent applications and drawings), as well as Financial documents, license agreements and contracts. There are a few files related to furniture design competitions, as well as furniture photographs and slides, articles and clippings. Of special note are several early furniture catalogs from Thonet and Wohnbedarf, including the Herbert Bayer designed Wohnbedarf aluminum furniture catalog.

For additional context, please refer to the finding aid of the physical collection.