The History of the Wassily Chair

The Wassily chair, also known as the Model B3 chair, was designed by the famous modernist architect and designer, Marcel Breuer, in 1925 while he was still a student at the Bauhaus school in Germany. The chair was named after Wassily Kandinsky, one of Breuer's teachers at the Bauhaus, who was the first person to own the chair. One storyline is that Marcel made the chair as a birthday gift for Wassily’s daughter.

The Wassily chair was a revolutionary design at the time, as it was made entirely out of tubular steel and belt-grade leather, materials that were not commonly used in furniture. The chair's sleek and minimalist design, which featured a curved steel frame and highly durable vegetable tanned leather straps as the seat, armrests and backrest, was a stark contrast to the heavy, ornate furniture that was popular at the time.

Breuer's use of tubular steel in the Wassily chair was not only a design choice, but also a practical one. The material, commonly used for bicycle frames at the time, was lightweight, durable, and easy to produce in large quantities, making the chair affordable for mass production. The chair was also easy to stack, making it a space-saving option for small apartments in major cosmopolitan centers throughout Europe.

After the Bauhaus school closed in 1933, Breuer moved to London and began working as an architect and furniture designer. He began producing the Wassily chair, then known as the B3 chair, commercially under the company name Isokon, and it quickly became a popular choice among architects, designers, the professional business community, and the general public.

The Wassily chairs’ influence on modern furniture design cannot be overstated. It’s simple, functional construct and use of industrial materials paved the way for the modernist movement in furniture architecture, and it remains a popular and iconic design to this day.

After World War II the Italian manufacturer, Gavina, began manufacturing the chair following the original design by Breuer, using the same tubular steel and high quality vegetable tanned leather straps. Two American companies, Knoll and Stendig, began distributing the chairs as a “Wassily” under their brand names. In the late 1960s Knoll purchased the Gavina factory. However, the chair continued to be produced under both the Knoll and Stendig brands. In 1988 Stendig closed their doors. Because the Stendig brand was built in the same factory as the Knoll brand, it is considered equally as authentic.

In the present day, the Wassily chair is still being produced by Knoll which is considered the only manufacturer of authentic Wassily chairs. Other companies around the world are making reproductions. These knock-offs are typically made with inferior materials lacking the high quality standards set by Knoll.

The life expectancy of an authentic Wassily chair is 30 to 40 years. However, there are chairs still in service today that are more than 60 years old. Because the frames are steel tubing, they will far outlive the leather. Advanced Leather Solutions, an American company, manufactures replacement leather straps in their factory in California, using the same quality leather as the original giving the piece another 30 to 40 years of use.

It is a highly sought after piece of furniture, passed down from generation to generation, particularly for those who appreciate classic, timeless design and the Bauhaus movement. The chair is considered as a true iconic classic, viewed as art, and a masterpiece of mid-century modern architecture. It’s simple yet elegant design, as well as its historical significance, have made it a timeless piece that will continue to be prized for decades to come.

If your chair is no longer useful to you, consider putting on the Wassily Exchange page of this website where others will see it and may offer some value to you that makes it worth your while to sell.