Icon: Marcel Breuer
Marcel Lajos Breuer was born in the provincial city of Pecs, Hungary. His early study and teaching at the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau in the 1920s introduced him to three older giants of the era that had a life-long influence upon his professional career - Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, and Le Corbusier.
Breuer left the Bauhaus and moved to Berlin in 1928 and then moved to England in 1935 when the Nazis made it impossible for anyone who had been a part of the Bauhaus to practice architecture. In 1937, Breuer joined Walter Gropius in his architectural practice and also became a professor at Harvard. Breuer moved to New York in 1946 to found his own architectural firm, and like Le Corbusier, Breuer chose concrete as his medium of choice. He used concrete in his design of the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City.
Marcel Breuer’s most recognized furniture design was the first bent tubular steel chair, known as the Wassily Chair. The Wassily Chair was designed in 1925 and inspired by the curved tubular steel handlebars on Breuer’s Adler bicycle. He designed his famous Wassily chair for painter Wassily Kandinsky, Breuer’s colleague on the Bauhaus faculty. Kandinsky admired Breuer’s finished chair design so much that did Breuer made an additional copy for Kandinsky to use in his home. When the Italian manuafcturer re-released the chair in the 1960s, they designated the name “Wassily” after they had learned that Kandinsky had been the recipient of one of the earliest post-prototype units.
Marcel Breuer (1902-1981) Biography
Link: Breuer Trailer House
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
Books: Marcel Breuer: 1902-1981
Swiss Motif in a Japanese House
Post a comment
Suggested Reading
Marcel Wanders
Behind the Ceiling is the first monograph on one of the most influential, prolific and celebrated international designers today. [more...]
Buy it here: Amazon
The Design Hotels Book
Indispensable directory of impressive hotels and destinations for those who like to travel in style. [more...]
Buy it here: Amazon
Mirror Mesh Bag
Square stitching & square handle with a synthetic leather mesh. Handmade by craftsman in Asakusa, Tokyo.
Buy it here: Cataci
More Books
Case Study Houses
“It’s a huge coffee-table book, which analyses each of the houses in chronological order, with plans, sketches and glorious photographs.” [more...]
Buy it here: Amazon
Wonderwall: Masamichi Katayama
introducing over forty recent projects by Japan’s hottest retail designer with an extraordinary selection of interior designs for boutiques and retail outlets. [more...]
Buy it Here: Amazon
The U.N. Building
Symbol of world humanitarianism, a beacon of unity after the Second World War. More than 50 years on, the 39-story building is regarded as one of the pinnacles of mid-century modernism. [more...]
Buy it here: Amazon
Loblolly House
Including a DVD of the film "A House in the Trees", a real-time documentary of the design, fabrication, and assembly of this amazing house. [more...]
Buy it here: Amazon
Desire
The Shape of Things to Come. An up-to-date comprehensive survey on furniture and object design today, showcasing the crème de la crème of designers. [more...]
Buy it here: Amazon
Airworld
Design and Architecture for Air Travel. A picture of the history of air travel, with a focus on the developments that design and architecture have undergone. [more...]
Buy it here: Amazon
How to Wrap Five Eggs
A mid-60s classic of Japanese design. Stunningly laid-out paean to traditional Japanese packaging is rife with sumptuous black and white photos of all manner of boxes, wrappers and containers that appear at once homely and sophisticated, ingeniously utilitarian yet fine and rare. [more...]
Buy it here: Amazon
Follow Daily Icon on Kindle
Get the same great Daily Icon content delivered to your Kindle. All Kindle subscriptions start with a 14-day free trial.
Buy it here: Amazon
Daily Icon features extraordinary Designers, Architecture and Products, with a special focus on furniture, accessories and lighting for the home.
