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Cesca Chair

The thoroughly modern Cesca was introduced in 1928 and was the first chair to combine tubular steel with natural fibers. The cantilevered form features handwoven cane set in frames of solid beech. Its design was hailed as a modern feat in furniture design and it is considered among the ten most important chairs of the 20th century.

DESIGNER | Marcel Breuer, 1928

Cesca Chair

W: 18.5″
D: 22.5″
H: 31.5″

The thoroughly modern Cesca was introduced in 1928 and was the first chair to combine tubular steel with natural fibers. The cantilevered form features handwoven cane set in frames of solid beech. Its design was hailed as a modern feat in furniture design and it is considered among the ten most important chairs of the 20th century. It continues to be among the most widely replicated chairs in the world.

Created by Marcel Breuer, who pioneered the use of tubular steel with his 1925 Wassily Chair, Cesca represented his desire to further simplify the design and to reduce the “visual noise” of the chair, creating a continuous sinuous form.

Marcel Breuer

Marcel Breuer (1902-1981), master carpenter of the Bauhaus school, was born in Hungary. He was inspired by such architects and designers as Le Corbusier, Mies Van der Rohe and Walter Gropius, whom he met while studying and teaching at the Bauhaus school.

In 1935, Breuer moved to England when the Nazis made it impossible for anyone associated with Bauhaus to practice architecture. In1937, he began collaborating with Gropius in Boston and became a professor at Harvard. Ten years later, he moved to New York and founded his own architectural firm, concrete being his favored medium for architecture and tubular steel for furniture.

Cesca Chair  | c.1928

Manufacturer

Original: Gebruder Thonet | Germany
Current: Knoll | USA

Build

Dimensions: 18.5″ x 22.5″ x 31.5″
Material: chrome-plated steel tube, wood and cane