Tubular Steel Classics

Origin

Thonet's tubular steel classics go back to the late 1920s. In 1926 Mart Stam built a chair with no back legs from gas pipe, which Thonet credits as capturing the essence of the cantilever chair. Thonet signed a deal with Marcel Breuer in 1928, acquired his company Standard Möbel in 1929, and in 1930 set up its own "Steel Department" at its Frankenberg production facilities. During the 1930s Thonet became the largest manufacturer of tubular steel furniture in the world.

Design Language

The pieces use bent, chrome-plated tubular steel made with industrial processes developed from Thonet's bentwood technique. Thonet describes them as light, transparent and "as if drawn into the room", in Breuer's words. Several models combine the steel frame with Thonet's traditional materials, bentwood and Vienna cane.

Key Pieces

Thonet names Marcel Breuer's S 32 / S 64 cantilever chairs and S 35 lounge chair, Mart Stam's S 33 and S 34, Mies van der Rohe's S 533 and Breuer's B 9 nesting tables as part of its tubular steel programme.