Marcel Breuers Tubular Metal Chair - Essay Example

Other (s) Marcel Breuer’s Tubular Metal Chair One of the remarkable Bauhaus objectsin the book History of modern design is Marcel Breuer’s tubular metal chair (Raizman 201). The innovative aluminum designer tubular plywood and steel chair pieces were designed by one of the most renowned architect cum furniture designer Marcel Breuer. Bauhaus was a famous design School that existed in Germany between 1919 and 1933 and Marcel first made appearance in the designing of furniture at the Bauhaus in Germany in the 1920s and then as an émigré in the 1930s (Griffith 1). The Bauhaus chairs were mainly characterized by simple and light designs based on the consumer needs with little or no decorative additives. They were usually made out of a wide range of materials such as steel, bent wood, glass, plastic ad leathers and the common colors were grey, white black or brown. Despite nearly a century of their existence, the legacy of Bauhaus chairs particularly their functionalism has continued to inspire artists across nearly all disciplines. However, the interpretation of the narratives surrounding the design of Bauhaus chairs such as Marcel Breuer’s tubular metal chair varies from one author to another depending on the agenda or context of the analysis or interpretation. Fig 1: Marcel Breuer’s tubular metal chair ( Raizman 201) Analysis and Interpretation of Bauhaus chairs The discussion regarding the legacy of Bauhaus chairs reveal a number of aspects of the design and its connection with the modern designs. Many artists and others concur that the design of the classic Bauhaus chairs depicts the contemporary modern lifestyles. On the other hand, tubular metal chair predominantly paved way for a more advanced invention and innovativeness in the field of furniture design. This design in the artistic field paved way for a more chronologically advanced design industry whereby each and every individual artist is guided by their own liberally generated ideas. According to Reif(37), the functionalism of the modern furniture designs were particularly influenced by the post World II ideals of commoditization, cutting down excess and design practically. The remarkable shift from the decorative principles to minimalism as seen in the design of the Bauhaus chairs was generally attributed to the introduction of new technology as well as the changing philosophy of architecture. For example, the tubular metal chair was the revolutionary design in the furniture project under which bent tubular steel and canvas as well as manufacturing methods was powerfully used. The handlebar of Marcel’s Adler Bicycle inspired him a great deal in the adoption of the use of steel tubing to construct this chair. Through this design, it was proven that steel tubing was actually an appropriate material proposal by Marcel as it was available in larger quantity. The periphery of the tubular metal chair exhibition room was divided collectively into four of Marcel’s favorite materials namely; plywood, tubular steel, aluminum and massive wood. All of these materials were equally linked to Breuer’s works directly through furniture prototypes, photographs and drawings. In a symbolic contrary of Marcel Breuer’s artistic work, a higher percentage of his exhibition focused on architecture which was compiled by the use of reconstructed scale models, photos, and photocopies of plans as well as the exhibition apparatus. The Role of the Designer The 1926 steel club armchair (later nicknamed Wassily after the untimely death of Marcel’s teacher Wassily Kendinsky) was designed against the ongoing artistic movement back then. This furniture design was manufactured from nickel-plated extruded tubular steel. Te designers of Bauhaus were particularly more innovative with materials in their designs compared to both the earlier and later movements. For example, one intermittent futuristic characteristic of is Marcel Breuer’s tubular metal chair was its unusually light and easy assembling from the readymade steel tubes (Hossenally 2) Marcel is equally known for his monographic travelling exhibitions’ furniture designs found in the masterpiece of the modern movements. Marcel’s contribution to the post modernity arts movement was the designing of the Wassily tubular steel chair or the model B3 chair. Marcel produced this magnificent design when he was barely 23 and the personnel investigator of a cabinet making workshop at the Bauhaus in Dessau. The classically retrieve exhibition nature of Marcel Breuer’s design and architectural work combines a rigidly chronological approach in a more systematically and paradigmatically oriented one. This architect is influential in the field of architecture and arts as he presentably showed a portrayal of an equal importance given to both disciplines. The passion Breuer had for arts in the long run hailed fruits through the tubular metal chair artistic design. Although, this artist concentrated much on architecture throughout his career, he still undertook designing furniture projects for projects like the Geller house as well as the exhibition house of which he simultaneously built and furnished in the late 1940s. This renowned architect additionally established the Museum of Modern Art, New York which Noyes had curated finally. For the New York project, Marcel commendably innovatively developed cut-out-plywood MoMA chair designed from a single board. The MoMA furniture design revived interest in Breuer’s artistic work. An inclusivity of Marcel’ works cordially looks at, in addition the favorite T-plan and H-plan house shapes designed in the East Coast states of Connecticut, New Jersey and New York cities. These steel manufacturers had subsequently conspired with Marcel in the perfection of the overall processes involved in the all-in-one steel tubing. The tubular metal chair like many other designs found in the modernist movements have been overwhelmingly mass produced since the beginning of 1920s. Continuity in tubular metal chair production went on through to the 1950s. Today, these designs have been greatly improved as a result of diversity in the artistic field movements. Through the olden patent tubular metal chairs designs have become extinct, the trademark rights to Marcel Breuer have been respected as per the global intellectual property guides. Reproductions are uniformly produced around the world by other manufacturers who undertake the marketing process of tubular metal chairs under different brand names. An informative, Pritchard disadvantaged Marcel’s inspirations of designing a tubular metal chair. As an extremist, Pritchard was far too traditional to buy metal furniture; instead this guy insisted that Breuer should entirely stick to wood instead of steel; preferably plywood. The result of the wood design by Marcel was a series of five furniture designs which were; chaise longue, an armchair, and nest of tables. In this design, the plywood was consequentially made lithely and sinuous. These deigns currently are referred to as landmarks in 20th century furniture design. Nonetheless, as compared to the rest of 20th century Marcel’s early furniture designing career, the development of these plywood designs were faced entirely with reasonable disappointments and doubts. The tubular metal chair designs thus entirely captivated the attention of Marcel Breuer throughout the remaining part of his furniture design career; a move that this renowned architect is attributed for up to date. In conclusion, the tubular metal chair designed by Marcel Breuer was mainly characterized by simple and light designs based on the consumer needs with little or no decorative additives. The shift from the decorative principles to minimalism as seen in the design of the Bauhaus chairs was a precursor to modern designs and the legacy of their functionalism has continued to inspire artists across nearly all disciplines. . Works Cited Griffith, Winton A. “The Bauhaus, 1919–1933”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. Available at http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bauh/hd_bauh.htm Hossenally, Rooksana. Marcel Breuer (1902-1981): Design & Architecture. Design, Architecture, Interiors, Exhibitions, 2013. Available at http://www.yatzer.com/Marcel-Breuer-design-architecture Raizman, David. A History of Modern Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ : Prentice Hall 2004.Print.  Reif, Rita. “When Chairs Were of Sterner stuff; Bauhaus Art.” The New York Times, 1988(1) 37-39. Web. 29 April,2015. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/01/arts/antiques-when-chairs-were-of-sterner-stuff.html Read More