Bauhaus Etagere
Vintage 1930s Czech Bauhaus Sofas
Metal, Steel, Chrome
Vintage 1930s Czech Bauhaus More Mirrors
Steel, Chrome
Vintage 1940s Czech Bauhaus Shelves
Steel, Chrome
Vintage 1930s Czech Bauhaus More Mirrors
Steel, Chrome
Early 20th Century Czech Bauhaus Shelves
Steel, Chrome
20th Century Czech Bauhaus Shelves
Chrome, Steel
Early 20th Century Czech Art Deco Shelves
Beech, Wood, Lacquer
Vintage 1930s Czech Bauhaus Easels
Chrome
Vintage 1930s Czech Bauhaus Easels
Chrome
Vintage 1930s Bauhaus Shelves
Steel, Chrome
20th Century Czech Bauhaus Shelves
Chrome
Vintage 1930s German Bauhaus Side Tables
Nickel, Steel
Vintage 1930s German Bauhaus Shelves
Steel, Nickel
20th Century Czech Bauhaus Shelves
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Czech Bauhaus Side Tables
Chrome, Metal
Mid-20th Century Czech Bauhaus Side Tables
Chrome
Vintage 1930s Czech Bauhaus Planters and Jardinieres
Chrome
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Shelves
Chrome
Vintage 1960s Italian Bauhaus Shelves
Stainless Steel
Mid-20th Century German Bauhaus Shelves
Steel, Chrome
Early 20th Century Czech Bauhaus Shelves
Chrome
Vintage 1930s French Art Deco Shelves
Wood, Lacquer
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Shelves
Metal, Brass
Early 20th Century Austrian Jugendstil Bookcases
Beech
People Also Browsed
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Benches
Aluminum
Vintage 1950s French Mid-Century Modern Cupboards
Brass
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Loveseats
Aluminum
20th Century Italian Neoclassical Side Tables
Wood
Vintage 1940s Czech Bauhaus Console Tables
Steel
Vintage 1920s German Bauhaus Table Lamps
Bronze, Nickel
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Sofas
Suede, Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Bauhaus End Tables
Chrome
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
Aluminum
Vintage 1930s German Bauhaus Side Tables
Steel
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Chrome
20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Chrome
Vintage 1930s Czech Bauhaus Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Chrome
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
Fabric, Oak
Vintage 1930s Czech Bauhaus Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Chrome
Vintage 1930s German Bauhaus Dining Room Tables
Chrome, Steel
Recent Sales
Vintage 1970s Belgian Bauhaus Vitrines
Chrome
Vintage 1930s German Bauhaus Shelves and Wall Cabinets
Metal
Vintage 1930s German Vitrines
Oak, Glass, Mirror
Vintage 1930s German Bauhaus Shelves
Steel
Vintage 1930s German Bauhaus Shelves
Chrome, Steel
Mid-20th Century Czech Bauhaus Commodes and Chests of Drawers
Chrome
Vintage 1940s Bauhaus Side Tables
Steel
Early 20th Century Czech Bauhaus Side Tables
Steel
Early 20th Century Czech Bauhaus Side Tables
Steel
Early 20th Century Czech Bauhaus Side Tables
Steel
Vintage 1930s Bauhaus Shelves
Chrome, Steel
20th Century Czech Bauhaus Shelves
Chrome
Vintage 1930s Czech Bauhaus Shelves
Chrome
Vintage 1920s German Bauhaus Shelves
Steel
Vintage 1930s Czech Bauhaus End Tables
Metal
Vintage 1950s German Bauhaus Shelves
Steel, Chrome
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Shelves
Chrome
Vintage 1930s Czech Bauhaus Shelves
Wood, Lacquer
Vintage 1930s German Bauhaus Shelves
Steel, Chrome
Vintage 1930s Bauhaus Shelves
Steel, Chrome
Vintage 1930s Bauhaus Shelves
Steel, Chrome
20th Century Czech Bauhaus Shelves
Chrome
Early 20th Century Czech Art Deco End Tables
Chrome
20th Century Czech Bauhaus Shelves
Chrome
Early 20th Century Austrian Bauhaus Bookcases
Lacquer
Vintage 1940s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Shelves
Chrome
Vintage 1960s German Art Deco Shelves
Steel
Vintage 1980s Italian Bauhaus Serving Pieces
Bauhaus Etagere For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Bauhaus Etagere?
A Close Look at bauhaus Furniture
The Bauhaus was a progressive German art and design school founded by the architect Walter Gropius that operated from 1919 to 1933. Authentic Bauhaus furniture — sofas, dining chairs, tables and more — and the school’s followers married industrial and natural materials in simple, geometric forms. The goal of the Bauhaus was to erase the distinction between art and craft while embracing the use of new technologies and materials.
ORIGINS OF BAUHAUS FURNITURE DESIGN
- Art and design school established in Germany in 1919
- Promotion of a union of art, craft and technology
- Design intended for mass production
- School’s workshops focused on cabinetry, metalworking, typography, textiles and more
- Informed by De Stijl, Constructivism, Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, and modernism; influenced mid-century modernism, Scandinavian modernism
CHARACTERISTICS OF BAUHAUS FURNITURE DESIGN
- Emphasis on craft
- Simplicity, order, clarity and a prioritization of functionalism
- Incorporation of geometric shapes
- Minimalist and refined, little to no ornamentation
- Use of industrial materials such as tubular chrome, steel and plastic as well as leather, cane and molded plywood in furniture and other products
BAUHAUS FURNITURE DESIGNERS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- László Moholy-Nagy
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
- Anni Albers
- Josef Hoffmann
- Marcel Breuer
- Marianne Brandt
AUTHENTIC BAUHAUS FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
The name Bauhaus is derived from the German verb bauen, “to build.” Under the school’s innovative curriculum, students were taught the fine arts, such as painting and sculpture, as well as practical skills like carpentry and metalworking.
The school moved from Weimar in 1925 to the city of Dessau, where it enjoyed its heyday under Gropius, then Hannes Meyer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The period from 1932 to 1933 when it operated in Berlin under Mies was its final chapter. Despite its brief existence, the Bauhaus has had an enduring impact on art and design in the United States and elsewhere, and is regarded by many as the 20th century’s chief crucible of modernism.
The faculty roster at the Bauhaus reads like a who’s who of modernist creative genius — it included such artists as Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and László Moholy-Nagy along with architects and designers like Mies and Marcel Breuer, who became known for his muscular brutalist-style concrete buildings in the postwar years. In 1925, while he was head of the Bauhaus carpentry workshop, Breuer gave form to his signature innovation: the use of lightweight tubular-steel frames for chairs, side tables and sofas — a technique soon adopted by Mies and others. Breuer’s Cesca chair was the first-ever tubular steel frame chair with a caned seat to be mass produced, while the inspiration for his legendary Wassily chair, a timeless design and part of the collection crafted to furnish the Dessau school, was the bike he rode around campus.
Bauhaus design style reflects the tenets by which these creators worked: simplicity, clarity and function. They disdained superfluous ornament in favor of precise construction. Seating pieces such as side chairs, armchairs or club chairs for example, were made with tubular metal or molded plywood frames, and upholstery was made from leather or cane. Above all, designs in the Bauhaus style offer aesthetic flexibility. They can be the elements of a wholly spare, minimalist space, the quiet foundation of an environment in which color and pattern come from one’s own collection of art and artifacts.
Today, from textiles to typefaces, architecture, furniture and decorative objects for the home, Bauhaus creations continue to have an outsize influence on modern design.
Find a collection of authentic Bauhaus furniture on 1stDibs.