What the work is
A lightweight, open-frame armchair made from bent tubular steel and tensioned Eisengarn straps. Designed 1925–1926 at the Bauhaus in Dessau. Not commissioned for Wassily Kandinsky, though he received a duplicate after admiring it.
How it was made
Breuer used seamless tubular steel bent into a continuous loop, inspired by bicycle handlebars. He tensioned Eisengarn fabric straps with springs. Margaretha Reichardt improved the Eisengarn for this application. Thonet manufactured it in the late 1920s as Model B3.
What works
The chair’s frame distributes load across a single continuous tube. The Eisengarn straps stretch taut without sagging. The bicycle-derived geometry delivers rigidity with minimal material. It is legible as both object and system.
What does not
It does not rely on traditional joinery, upholstery, or solid wood. It does not use leather, foam, or visible fasteners. It does not reference historical styles or accommodate conventional sitting postures.
What it influenced
It influenced industrial design’s adoption of tubular steel, the Bauhaus’s shift toward serial production, and later chairs like the Cesca. It established the visual grammar of modernist furniture: exposed structure, minimal mass, and engineered tension.
Is it worth your time
Yes. It is the first chair to use bent tubular steel as structure and Eisengarn as tensioned support — a material and method breakthrough that redefined furniture’s structural logic.