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.
Mid-20th Century Italian Bauhaus Furniture
Steel, Chrome
1930s Estonian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Plywood
1960s North American Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Chrome
2010s American Bauhaus Furniture
Brass
1930s Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Steel, Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Bauhaus Furniture
Brass
1970s Italian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Leather
1920s Italian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Steel
1930s Austrian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Beech, Bentwood
1950s Czech Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Metal
2010s American Bauhaus Furniture
Concrete, Steel, Stainless Steel
Mid-20th Century Bauhaus Furniture
Steel, Chrome
1910s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Copper
1950s Czech Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Milk Glass, Bakelite
2010s Indonesian Bauhaus Furniture
Wool, Acrylic, Yarn
Early 20th Century German Bauhaus Furniture
Metal
Mid-20th Century Italian Bauhaus Furniture
Steel, Chrome
1930s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Nickel
Late 20th Century Unknown Bauhaus Furniture
Metal, Chrome
1930s Czech Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Chrome
1980s Italian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Metal
1930s Czech Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Wood, Walnut
1930s Czech Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Chrome
2010s German Bauhaus Furniture
Brass
1930s Czech Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Chrome
1990s Italian Bauhaus Furniture
Aluminum
1940s Danish Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Metal
Mid-20th Century Czech Bauhaus Furniture
Metal, Steel
Mid-20th Century Italian Bauhaus Furniture
Steel, Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Bauhaus Furniture
Brass
1930s French Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Steel, Chrome
1920s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Glass
1990s Italian Bauhaus Furniture
Aluminum
1960s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Metal
1930s Czech Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Metal, Chrome
1930s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Brass
Late 20th Century French Bauhaus Furniture
Brass, Nickel
1920s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Nickel
20th Century Italian Bauhaus Furniture
Chrome
Early 20th Century Bauhaus Furniture
Steel, Chrome
Late 20th Century German Bauhaus Furniture
Metal, Brass
1960s Italian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Steel
1960s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Metal
1930s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Dutch Bauhaus Furniture
Metal
1960s Italian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Chrome, Iron
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Bauhaus Furniture
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Portuguese Bauhaus Furniture
Brass
1920s Czech Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Aluminum, Steel
1980s Italian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Chrome
Early 20th Century German Bauhaus Furniture
Wicker, Beech
1920s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Brass
Mid-20th Century Moroccan Bauhaus Furniture
Wool
Mid-20th Century Italian Bauhaus Furniture
Steel
1930s Austrian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Steel
1930s Italian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Straw, Wood
1930s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Chrome
1970s Italian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Metal
1930s Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Aluminum, Steel
1930s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Ceramic
1930s Italian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Metal
1930s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Faux Leather
1920s Swedish Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Brass, Steel
1930s Czech Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Chrome
1930s Czech Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary French Bauhaus Furniture
Sterling Silver
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Bauhaus Furniture
Plywood
1970s Italian Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Steel
1970s Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Metal
1910s German Vintage Bauhaus Furniture
Copper
2010s Mexican Bauhaus Furniture
Hardwood
Late 20th Century Italian Bauhaus Furniture
Chrome