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Ulm Stool

Ulm Stool
By Max Bill
Located in Berlin, DE
The Ulm Stool may seem unassuming at first glance, yet its story is as fascinating as its
Category

Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Stools

Materials

Spruce

Ulm Stool
Ulm Stool
H 17.33 in W 15.36 in D 11.42 in
Max Bill's Ulm Stools, circa 1954
By Max Bill
Located in VILLEURBANNE, FR
The ULM stool, designed in 1954 by Max Bill, Hans Gugelot, and Paul Hildinger for the Ulm School
Category

Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Stools

Materials

Wood

 Max Bill's Ulm Stools, circa 1954
 Max Bill's Ulm Stools, circa 1954
H 17.33 in W 11.42 in D 15.36 in
Max Bill's Ulm Stool / Authentic Mid-Century Swiss Design
By Max Bill
Located in Zürich, CH
an unspoiled way. Ulm stool was designed by the Swiss architect and artist Max Bill, in
Category

Mid-20th Century Swiss Mid-Century Modern Chairs

Materials

Spruce

Mid Century Style ULMER HOCKER Stool by Max Bill designed in 1954 at the HfG Ulm
By Max Bill
Located in Ulm, DE
The Ulm Stool (German: Ulmer Hocker), a timeless masterpiece of Mid-Century Modern design, was
Category

Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Stools

Materials

Beech, Spruce

Mid Century Style ULMER HOCKER Stool by Max Bill Stained in different Color
By Max Bill
Located in Ulm, DE
The Ulm Stool (German: Ulmer Hocker), a timeless masterpiece of Mid-Century Modern design, was
Category

2010s German Mid-Century Modern Stools

Materials

Beech, Birch

Mid Century Style ULMER HOCKER Stool by Max Bill in Black Stained Spruce
By Max Bill
Located in Ulm, DE
The Ulm Stool (German: Ulmer Hocker), a timeless masterpiece of Mid-Century Modern design, was
Category

Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Stools

Materials

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Mid Century Style ULMER HOCKER Stool by Max Bill in Notwood and Lacquer Finish
By Max Bill
Located in Ulm, DE
The Ulm Stool (German: Ulmer Hocker), a timeless masterpiece of Mid-Century Modern design, was
Category

Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Stools

Materials

Nutwood

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Ulm Stool by Max Bill
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Max Bill "Ulm" Stool for Zanotta
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Ulm Stool For Sale on 1stDibs

At 1stDibs, there are many versions of the ideal ulm stool for your home. Each ulm stool for sale was constructed with extraordinary care, often using wood, beech and hardwood. There are 9 variations of the antique or vintage ulm stool you’re looking for, while we also have 1 modern editions of this piece to choose from as well. You’ve searched high and low for the perfect ulm stool — we have versions that date back to the 20th Century alongside those produced as recently as the 21st Century are available. When you’re browsing for the right ulm stool, those designed in Mid-Century Modern and Modern styles are of considerable interest. Many designers have produced at least one well-made ulm stool over the years, but those crafted by Max Bill and Zanotta are often thought to be among the most beautiful.

How Much is a Ulm Stool?

Prices for a ulm stool can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — at 1stDibs, they begin at $370 and can go as high as $5,704, while the average can fetch as much as $3,256.

Max Bill for sale on 1stDibs

Max Bill was born in Winterthur, Switzerland. After an apprenticeship as a silversmith during 1924–27, he took up studies at the Bauhaus in Dessau under many teachers including Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Oskar Schlemmer from 1927 to 1929, after which he moved to Zurich.

After working on graphic designs for the few modern buildings being constructed, Bill built his first work, his own house and studio (1932–3) in Zurich-Höngg. From 1937 onward he was a prime mover behind the Allianz group of Swiss artists.

Bill is widely considered the single most decisive influence on Swiss graphic design beginning in the 1950s with his theoretical writing and progressive work. His connection to the days of modernism gave him special authority. As an industrial designer, his work is characterized by a clarity of design and precise proportions. Examples are the elegant clocks and watches designed for Junghans, a long-term client. Among Bill's most notable product designs is the Ulmer Hocker of 1954, a stool that can also be used as a shelf element, a speaker's desk, a tablet or a side table. Although the stool was a creation of both Bill's and Ulm School designer Hans Gugelot's, it is often called "Bill Hocker" because the first sketch of it on a cocktail napkin was Bill's work.

As a designer and artist, Bill sought to create forms which visually represent the New Physics of the early 20th century. He sought to create objects so that the new science of form could be understood by the senses: that is as a concrete art. Thus Bill is not a rationalist – as is typically thought – but rather a phenomenologist. He made spare geometric paintings, prints and spherical sculptures, some based on the Möbius strip, in stone, wood, metal and plaster. His architectural work included an office building in Germany, a radio studio in Zurich, and a bridge in eastern Switzerland.

Bill continued to produce architectural designs, such as those for a museum of contemporary art (1981) in Florence and for the Bauhaus Archive (1987) in Berlin. In 1982 he also entered a competition for an addition to the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, built to a design by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Pavillon-Skulptur, a large granite sculpture, was installed adjacent to the Bahnhofstrasse, Zürich in 1983. As is often the case with modern art in public places, the installation generated some controversy. Endlose Treppe, a sculpture made of North American granite, was designed for the philosopher Ernst Bloch.

In 1982 he was awarded the Sir Misha Black award and was added to the College of Medallists.

Bill executed many public sculptures in Europe and exhibited extensively in galleries and museums, including a retrospective at the Kunsthaus Zürich in 1968–69. He was the subject of retrospectives at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1974, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City in 1988.

Find vintage Max Bill stools, lighting, and other furniture on 1stDibs.

Finding the Right Stools for You

Stools are versatile and a necessary addition to any living room, kitchen area or elsewhere in your home. A sofa or reliable lounge chair might nab all the credit, comfort-wise, but don’t discount the roles that good antique, new and vintage stools can play.

“Stools are jewels and statements in a space, and they can also be investment pieces,” says New York City designer Amy Lau, who adds that these seats provide an excellent choice for setting an interior’s general tone. 

Stools, which are among the oldest forms of wooden furnishings, may also serve as decorative pieces, even if we’re talking about a stool that is far less sculptural than the gracefully curving molded plywood shells that make up Sōri Yanagi’s provocative Butterfly stool

Fawn Galli, a New York interior designer, uses her stools in the same way you would use a throw pillow. “I normally buy several styles and move them around the home where needed,” she says.

Stools are smaller pieces of seating as compared to armchairs or dining chairs and can add depth as well as functionality to a space that you’ve set aside for entertaining. For a splash of color, consider the Stool 60, a pioneering work of bentwood by Finnish architect and furniture maker Alvar Aalto. It’s manufactured by Artek and comes in a variety of colored seats and finishes.

Barstools that date back to the 1970s are now more ubiquitous in kitchens. Vintage barstools have seen renewed interest, be they a meld of chrome and leather or transparent plastic, such as the Lucite and stainless-steel counter stool variety from Indiana-born furniture designer Charles Hollis Jones, who is renowned for his acrylic works. A cluster of barstools — perhaps a set of four brushed-aluminum counter stools by Emeco or Tubby Tube stools by Faye Toogood — can encourage merriment in the kitchen. If you’ve got the room for family and friends to congregate and enjoy cocktails where the cooking is done, consider matching your stools with a tall table.

Whether you need counter stools, drafting stools or another kind, explore an extensive range of antique, new and vintage stools on 1stDibs.