Mart Stam

Background

Mart Stam (1899–1986) was born in Purmerend in the Netherlands. According to Thonet's designer page he trained as a joiner and drawing teacher, worked in the Netherlands and later in Berlin and Switzerland in architecture offices including those of Max Taut and Hans Poelzig, and in 1924 founded the avant-garde magazine ABC together with the architect Hans Schmidt.

Signature Style

Stam felt an obligation to build and design rationally; simplicity was not an end in itself for him. In 1925 he began experimenting with gas pipes and composed a chair without back legs from them, the basic idea of the cantilever chair.

Notable Works

• A row house of three units at the 1927 Werkbund exhibition in Stuttgart, where he presented his cantilever chair without back legs
• S 33 and S 43 cantilever chairs, produced by Thonet
• S 40 garden chair, first shown in the 1935 Thonet catalogue as B 33 g

Legacy

Stam was awarded the artistic copyright for the cantilever chair, which is today owned by Thonet. He died on 23 February 1986 in Goldach, Switzerland.