Date
1920 - 1976
Project Type
Furniture
Location
n/a
Languages
Czech
Dutch
English
Estonian
French
German
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Polish
Spanish
People/Firms
A. M. Luther Ltd.
A. N. Marquis Co.
A., S.
ALCOA
Aalto, Aino
Aalto, Alvar
Abraham and Straus, Inc.
Adams, Thompson and Fry
Agostini, Alfredo
Agricultural Research Council
Aktiebolaget G. A. Berg
Albers, Josef
Albert, Edouard
Aldrich, Nelson
Allen, Deborah
Aluminum Lounge Chair with Zebra Print Upholstery
Correspondence 2499 browse all »
Drawings 744 browse all »
Photographs 122 browse all »
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.
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