Marcel Breuer (1902-1981), born in Hungary and trained at the Bauhaus by Walter Gropius from 1920-24, is heralded as having produced the first tubular steel armchair, his pieces pioneering the demand for tubular steel furniture throughout the 1920s and 1930s. When the Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1925, Breuer designed furniture for the new campus and became head of the furniture workshop, a position that he held until 1928. Also in 1925, Breuer created the famous tubular steel Wassily chair, purportedly inspired both by constructivist aesthetics and by the handlebars of his new bike. In 1928 he started a private practice in Berlin and came out with his Cesca cantilever chair and stool, named after his daughter and probably inspired by Mies Van der Rohe.

Vitra is a furniture company dedicated to developing healthy, intelligent, inspiring and durable solutions for the office, the home and for public spaces. Vitra’s products and concepts are developed in Switzerland by applying a diligent design process that brings together the company’s engineering excellence with the creative genius of leading international designers. It is our goal to create products with a high functional and aesthetic life expectancy. The Vitra Campus architecture, the Vitra Design Museum, workshops, publications, collections and archives are all integral elements of the Vitra Project. They give Vitra the opportunity to gain perspective and depth in all of its creative activities.