Marcel Breuer

Known as the the man who unlocked the potential of tubular steel, Marcel Breuer completed his apprenticeship in the carpentry workshop at the Bauhaus between 1920 and 1924. After a brief stint in Paris he took over the workshop at the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1925. From 1925 to 1926 Breuer created his first articles of tubular steel furniture. Breuer states: "I have specifically chosen metal for these pieces of furniture to achieve the characteristics of modern spatial elements...The heavy, pretentious upholstery of a comfortable armchair has been replaced by tightly stretched fabric surfaces and a few dimensional, springy, cylindrical brackets." Writing on Breuer’s impact, Peter Smithson notes that, among the second generation of Modernist designers, only Breuer succeeded in capturing the spirit of his age in his furniture.