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Kaiser Idell 6631-T Luxus
Adjustable Table E 1027
4 Chaise longue à reglage continu
Laccio Table
S 64 / S 64 N Cantilever Chair
5 + 1
S 32 / S 32 N Cantilever Chair
5 + 1
Tube Light Floor Lamp
2 Fauteuil Grand Confort, petit modèle
WG 24
S 285/1 - S 285/2
Wassily Chair
S 32 V / S 64 V Pure Materials Special Edition Cantilever Chair
5 + 1
Set B 97
S 32 PV / S 64 PV Pure Materials Cantilever Chair
5 + 1
S 32 N / S 64 N Pure Materials Cantilever Chair
5 + 1
B10/1
WG 25 GL
B 117
S 43 F Classic Cantilever Chair
5 + 1
MR 515/516/517
Adjustable Table E 1027 Replacement Glass
B 97
Kaiser Idell 6631-T Brass
Laccio Table Set
S 43 Classic Cantilever Chair
5 + 1
S 285/0
B 9
S 285
M4R
Wassily Chair Bauhaus Edition
Special Edition
S 1520
Kaiser Idell 6722-P
Kaiser Idell 6718-W Scissor Lamp
8 Tabouret tournant
S 1521
WA 24
Set B 97 Glass
Barcelona Stool
B 97 Glass
Kaiser Idell 6556-T
S 533 Cantilever Chair
Set B 9 a + b
Bauhaus Pendant Lamp DMB26
B3 Wassily Miniature
D4
S 35 LH Ottoman
Spring Balanced Table Lamp
Kaiser Idell 6556-F
K831 Pendant Lamp
Kaiser Idell 6631-P
WA 23 SW
Replacement Shade for GL/WA Lamps
L25
Special Edition
Barcelona Chair
B 9 Glass
S 35 L Cantilever Chair
MR Coffee Table
B 9 Pure Materials
S 43 Swivel Chair
S 32 V / S 64 V Pure Materials Cantilever Chair
5 + 1
B 9d/1
F51 Gropius Armchair
B 108
S 64 V Dark Melange Cantilever Chair
5 + 1
S 32 V Dark Melange Cantilever Chair
5 + 1
Set B 9
1 Fauteuil dossier basculant
3 Fauteuil Grand Confort, grand modèle
WG 24 100 Years of Bauhaus Anniversary Edition Lamp
Spring Balanced Floor Lamp
LUM Pendant Lamp
Flat Bat Brno Chair
S 32 L Cantilever Chair
S 33 / S 34 Cantilever Chair
B 10
7 Fauteuil tournant
MR Chair
Barcelona Relax Day Bed
Set B 9 Glass
K40
Bibendum armchair
S 35 N All Seasons Lounge Chair
Stuhl W1 Miniature
MR20 Miniature
S 533 N All Seasons Cantilever Chair
L25N Pastel
Special Edition
S 43 K Children's Chair
10 Table en tube, Grand Modèle
6 Table tube d’avion
Modular Table Lamp
3 Fauteuil Grand Confort, grand modèle Outdoor
Barcelona Day Bed
Bauhaus Cradle
S 34 N All Seasons Cantilever Chair
S 35 NH All Seasons Foot Stool
Occasional Table
Roquebrune Chair
S 40 Outdoor Cantilever Chair
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Bauhaus - Then and Now

The legendary Bauhaus lamp WG 24 from Wilhelm Wagenfeld


Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau

From 1919 to 1925 Bauhaus was based in Weimar where it emerged from the merger of the Großherzoglich-Sächsische Kunsthochschule and the Kunstgewerbeschule. Walter Gropius, the initiator and director, established Bauhaus with the intention of creating an institution which would marry art with industry, trade and crafts. In context of the practical training the Bauhaus workshops played a central role and existed as an equal party to the theoretical studies. Despite Gropius's aims Bauhaus didn't start cooperating with industry until 1922, and in 1923 an exhibition under title "Art and technology - A new unit" was staged, in which the Bauhaus furniture, lamps and accessories interspersed easily and openly into the rooms. The resonance of the exhibition was such that it established the international reputation of Bauhaus furniture, buildings and art: a reputation which remains undiminished to this day. In 1925 the right-wing conservative regional government forced the closure of Bauhaus Weimar, leading to the subsequent move to Dessau. In the course of the following seven years the most famous Bauhaus furniture was developed in cooperation with local industrial companies such as Junkers aircraft factory, Waggonfabrik AG and Berlin-Anhaltische Maschinenbau AG. In 1932 more political interference saw Bauhaus relocated to Berlin, before in 1933 it closed its doors for ever.


Modernism

The credo "beauty should be combined with usefulness" became popular during the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century, and a century later the idea that art, crafts and industry should be united was firmly established. One of the leading protagonists being the German architect Gottfried Semper who after visiting the London World Exposition in 1851 wrote that the connection between art and industry can best be established through teaching: a position most popularly realised through the Bauhaus. In terms of objects one of the most important of the period was Chair No. 14 by Michael Thonet, released in 1859 the chair with its reduction, functionality and innovative use of material made it very popular with the coming generation of architects and designers and in many respects served as a model for Bauhaus furniture. The start of the 20th century saw the crystallisation of many of these ideas in the formation of the Deutsche Werkbund - German Federation of Architects and Designers - an organisation to which Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius also belonged.

Walter Gropius' office at Bauhaus Weimar


Bauhaus Dessau

The technical context

During the Bauhaus a number of technical "miracles" appeared which radically altered the everyday social, economic and political realities: express trains, aeroplanes, affordable cars, street lighting, electrical lighting and telephones in the home and all manner of new household machines and appliances. These technical innovations allowed the establishment of an industrial culture, including the mass, series production of furniture, while the new means of communication and the new mobility promoted an unprecedented international dialogue amongst furniture designers.


The origins of Bauhaus furniture

The Dutch architect and furniture designer Mart Stam designed the first cantilevered steel tube chair in 1926, taking up from where the De Stijl movement had begun with steel tube furniture. At Bauhaus, artists, sculptors, architects, designers and craftsmen were able to work together in an unprecedented way, thus further developing the Bauhaus style in various directions. The designs of the Bauhaus design furniture were intended to meet the dual demands functionality as well as those of advanced industrial series production. The Bauhaus theory saw the arts and the architecture as inseparable, and this is reflected in the Bauhaus furniture design classics. Among the most fastidious Bauhaus protagonists was the architect and furniture designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Among Mies van der Rohe's most famous furniture design classics is the Barcelona Chair and stool, which he designed for the German pavilion on the occasion of the 1929 World Exposition in Barcelona. The steel frame and the leather-covered and button-seated seat and back cushions characterize this chair as uncompromising, aristocratic and elegant.



Barcelona Day Bed from Knoll International

Adjustable Table E 1027 from Eileen Gray


Bauhaus furniture from Marcel Breuer

The furniture designer Marcel Breuer began his studies at Bauhaus in 1920 and acquired his Master title at the time of Bauhaus's move from Weimar to Dessau in 1925. From the very beginning Breuer was regarded as a pioneer in the innovative use of materials, for all wood and metal. In his text "Metal Furniture and Modern Spatiality" Breuer described the aim with his Bauhaus furniture as being to create objects which stand in space in such a way that they interfere with neither movement nor the view through the room. The famous Laccio Bauhaus tables, designed by Marcel Breuer around 1925, consist of a combination of chrome plated steel tubes and wooden surfaces, and today Knoll International still produce the Laccio Table. The Wassily steel tube armchair was also designed in 1925 and was designed for the Dessau studio apartment of his colleague Wassily Kandinsky, from whom the name for the Bauhaus classic was also derived. In 1928 Breuer added a steel tube chair following the typical Bauhaus design to his portfolio.


Bauhaus classic: Bauhaus Pendant Lamp DMB 26 from Marianne Brandt

Wassily Chair from Marcel Breuer


Style elements in Bauhaus furniture

The Bauhaus furniture designers refrained from using unnecessary decorations and colour, and instead used simple but strikingly chrome plated surfaces complemented by the regular use of black. Steel tubes offering as it does numerous benefits, such as high load bearing capacity, low raw material costs, low weight and good formability, greatly contributed to the resulting exceptional design and ease of transportability. The plywood used for Bauhaus tables and chairs consisted of several thin wood layers glued together, which ensured an ease of moulding. However, the typical curved shapes were also created because the welding work could thus be minimized. The use of glass in table tops formed a direct link to the architecture of the time, which focused on the use of glass and steel in the construction of new buildings. Reduction in Bauhaus design is particularly present in the case of the cantilever chairs, where the traditional 4 leg frame was dispensed with. The combination of tubular steel with a wicker mesh makes Thonet furniture the very epitome of Bauhaus furniture design.


Famous Bauhaus chair: S 43 Classic from Marcel Breuer


100 Years of Bauhaus

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus, numerous theme-specific exhibitions and celebrations will take place in 2019. As part of the "100 Years of Bauhaus" anniversary programme and under the motto "Thinking the World anew", Bauhaus Verbund, together with regional and international partners, is inviting visitors to discover the extensive history of the art school, which still has an impact on living and coexistence in society today.

Thonet S 533

Limited Bauhaus Edition: Thonet S 533 F


More about 'Bauhaus' in our blog

5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for May 2024

...org "Lucia Moholy: Exposures" at Kunsthalle Praha, Czech Republic As noted from the Bröhan Museum, Berlin's, exhibition Lucia Moholy – The Image of Modernity, Moholy is not only an instructive example of how, why, so many inter-War female creatives slipped into an unjust anonymity, nor only an informative individual in context of how Bauhaus as an institution functioned on a daily basis, both during its existences and following its ultimate demise, but for all Lucia Moholy is an instructive and informative and interesting creative who should play a much more prominent role in contemporary dialogues and discourses than she currently does... brussels "Bauhaus and National Socialism" at Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Germany As oft noted in these dispatches, perhaps most directly in context of the Stadtmuseum Weimar's exhibition Mathilde von Freytag-Loringhoven...

(smow) introducing: Rowac

...And was also verifiably used by the Bauhauskapelle, that sadly oft forgotten soundtrack to Bauhaus life... And which in being the stool of choice in Weimar and Dessau also helps further deconstruct easy, lazy, talk of Bauhaus furniture; underscores that while furniture was made at both Bauhauses it wasn't as big a theme at the Bauhauses, certainly not Bauhaus Dessau, as many would today have you believe...

smow blog Design Calendar: March 27th 1886 – Happy Birthday Ludwig Mies van der Rohe!

...What words can one find to honour the birthday of the German architect, designer and ex-Bauhaus Director Ludwig Mies van der Rohe?...


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