Knoll Wassily B3 Armchair By Marcel Breuer For Gavina 1960
About the Item
- Creator:Marcel Breuer (Designer),Knoll (Manufacturer)
- Design:
- Dimensions:Height: 28.75 in (73.03 cm)Width: 31.11 in (79.02 cm)Depth: 27.17 in (69.02 cm)Seat Height: 14.18 in (36.02 cm)
- Style:Bauhaus (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960's
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1374235186902
Wassily Lounge Chair
Inspired by bicycle handlebars, the Wassily chair is one of Marcel Breuer’s (1902–81) greatest achievements. Even though the tubular metal chair looked like an artifact from the future when the Hungarian-American designer and architect conceived it in 1925, Breuer could not have foreseen the significant impact that this would have on modern design.
From 1920–28, Breuer studied and then taught at the Bauhaus school of design, where he found a kindred spirit in Walter Gropius, who invited Breuer back as junior master of the carpentry workshop. After less than a year in his new role, Breuer produced his revolutionary chair, which is among the first furniture designs to feature bent tubular steel.
Breuer called the Wassily his “most extreme work” because the pared-down design didn’t look comfortable. It’s true: Take an everyday club chair — the Wassily’s technical name was the model B3 club chair — and toss the cushions and you’d have something like Breuer’s design. The lightweight and mass-produced tubular-steel handlebars of the maker’s bicycle made him wonder if he could achieve something similar with bent-steel furniture.
The resulting mid-1920s-era chair, the seat of which was made of a durable canvas developed by Bauhaus student Margaretha Reichardt, was named the Wassily after painter and fellow Bauhaus colleague Vasily “Wassily” Kandinsky expressed admiration for the piece. Today, Knoll manufactures the Wassily chair.
Marcel Breuer
The architect and designer Marcel Breuer was one the 20th century’s most influential and innovative adherents of modernism. A member of the Bauhaus faculty, Breuer — like such colleagues as the architects Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and the artists and art theoreticians László Moholy-Nagy and Josef Albers — left Europe in the 1930s to champion the new design philosophy and its practice in the United States.
Born in Hungary, Breuer became a Bauhaus student in 1920 and quickly impressed Gropius, the German school’s founder, with his aptitude for furniture design. His early work was influenced by the minimalist Dutch design movement De Stijl — in particular the work of architect Gerrit Rietveld.
In 1925, while he was head of the Bauhaus furniture workshop, Breuer realized his signature innovation: the use of lightweight tubular-steel frames for chairs, tables and sofas — a technique soon adopted by Mies and others. Breuer’s attention gradually shifted from design to architecture, and, at the urging of Gropius, he joined his mentor in 1937 on the faculty of Harvard and in an architectural practice.
In the 1940s, Breuer opened his own architectural office, and there his style evolved from geometric, glass-walled structures toward a kind of hybrid architecture — seen in numerous Breuer houses in New England — that pairs bases of local fieldstone with sleek, wood-framed modernist upper floors. In his later, larger commissions, Breuer worked chiefly with reinforced concrete and stone, as seen in his best-known design, the brutalist inverted ziggurat built in New York in 1966 as the home of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Breuer’s most famous furniture pieces are those made of tubular steel, which include the Wassily chair — named after Wassily Kandinsky and recognizable for its leather-strap seating supports — and the caned Cesca chair.
Breuer also made several notable designs in molded plywood, including a chaise and nesting table for the British firm Isokon and a student furniture suite commissioned in 1938 for a dormitory at Bryn Mawr College. Whether in metal or wood, Breuer’s design objects are elegant and adaptable examples of classic modernist design — useful and appropriate in any environment.
Find vintage Marcel Breuer seating, storage cabinets and lighting on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Los Angeles, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Vintage Mid-Century BKF Hardoy Butterfly Chair for KnollLocated in Los Angeles, CABKF Hardoy butterfly chairs for Knoll. New powder coat white finish, for indoor or outdoor use. New canvas slings. Priced per chair. 4 chairs in stock.Category
Vintage 1970s American Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Don Shoemaker Sling "Swinger" Chair and Ottoman for Señal, S.A, 1960By Senal, Don S. ShoemakerLocated in Los Angeles, CAOne set of Swinger chair and ottoman from Don Shoemaker for the iconic Señal, S.A workshop of Mexico. This chair has been refinished and are in excellent condition. The chairs retain...Category
Vintage 1960s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Rosewood, Cocobolo
- Bent Wood Upholstered Dining Chairs by Bill Stephens for KnollBy Bill Stephens, KnollLocated in Los Angeles, CABeautiful set of bentwood frame dining chairs by Bill Stephens for Knoll. Upholstered in Knoll KT Collection fabric, hop sack slate grey. Crafted with meticulous artistry, these chai...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Bentwood
- Veranda Lounge Chair by Vico Magistretti for CassinaBy Cassina, Vico MagistrettiLocated in Los Angeles, CAVico Magistretti veranda lounge chair for Cassina, circa 1983. The inner steel frame adjusts to reconfigure the chair. The chair sits on black tubu...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsLeather
- Veranda Lounge Chair by Vico Magistretti for CassinaBy Cassina, Vico MagistrettiLocated in Los Angeles, CAVico Magistretti Veranda lounge chair for Cassina, circa 1983. The inner steel frame adjusts to reconfigure the chair. The chair sits on black tubu...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsLeather
- Rare Slipper Chairs by Paul McCobb for DirectionalBy Directional, Paul McCobbLocated in Los Angeles, CAExceptional and rare pair of Paul McCobb slipper chairs, model 1320, for Directional. Newly restored and upholstered. Price is for the pair.Category
Vintage 1950s American Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Walnut
- Marcel Breuer B3 Wassily Chair in Chrome & Natural Leather for Gavina, 1960'sBy Marcel Breuer, GavinaLocated in Los Angeles, CANatural Leather 'Wassily' Chair by Marcel Breuer for Gavina. Originally designed in 1925. This model was produced in Italy for Gavina, 1960's. Beautifully crafted leather and chrome ...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Bauhaus Lounge Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Marcel Breuer Bauhaus Black Model B3 Wassily Armchair for Gavina, 1969, Set of 6By Gavina, Marcel BreuerLocated in Vicenza, ITSet of six model B3 “Wassily” armchairs, designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925 and produced by the Italian manufacturer Gavina in 1969. It features a chrome-plated steel structure and...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Bauhaus Lounge Chairs
MaterialsChrome, Iron
- Marcel Breuer Bauhaus Black Model B3 Wassily Armchair for Gavina, 1969, Set of 4By Gavina, Marcel BreuerLocated in Vicenza, ITSet of four model B3 “Wassily” armchairs, designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925 and produced by the Italian manufacturer Gavina in 1969. It features a chrome-plated steel structure and ...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Bauhaus Lounge Chairs
MaterialsChrome, Iron
- Wassily Chair by Marcel Breuer for Knoll, 1920sBy Marcel Breuer, KnollLocated in Budapest, HUTubular steel chair by Marcell Breuer with vibrant red leather. The Wassily chair was designed in the 1920s for Knoll; this piece is considered as a landmark of modern design. Availa...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Bauhaus Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- "Wassily" armchair by Marcel Breuer for Gavina, 1970sBy Marcel Breuer, GavinaLocated in Lasne, BEChromed metal and brown leather armchair designed by Marcel Breuer. Model: Wassily. Seat height: 40 cm. Wear due to time and age of the chair.Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsMetal
- Gavina Wassily Chair B3 Vintage Leather White by Marcel Breuer 1 of 2By Marcel Breuer, GavinaLocated in Munich, BavariaThis old Vintage Wassily chair Model B3, in chromed tubular steel and white leather, was designed by Marcel Breuer and produced by Gavina. It's an early edition before 68. It has som...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Bauhaus Lounge Chairs
MaterialsMetal, Chrome