Designers > Contemporary Furniture Designed by Marcel Breuer

One of the major shapers of 20th century design, Hungarian-born Marcel Breuer (1902-1981) is remembered as much for his architectural prowess as his pioneering furniture design. While a student and teacher at Germany’s Bauhaus School of art in the 1920s, Breuer began experimenting with tubular metal and came out with his legendary Wassily Chair made for fellow Bauhaus student and artist Wassily Kandinsky. It was hailed as a breakthrough in furniture design because tubular metal was hygienic, affordable and sturdy. In 1935 Breuer, who had Jewish ancestry, was forced to relocate to the UK on account of the Nazi ascendancy in Germany. He traveled extensively before settling in the US, where he taught at Harvard and founded the architectural studio Marcel Breuer and Associates in New York. Apart from his tubular chairs, Breuer is most famous for designing the Whitney Museum of Art in New York and the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.