{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1323794"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1323794/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JG7849/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2016JG7849/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2016JG7849","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JG7850","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JG7851","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1323794/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1323794","accessionNumber":"W.33-2016","objectType":"Chair","titles":[{"title":"B33 Chair","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"This chair was designed by Marcel Breuer, a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer.\r\nThe design of the chair was novel for the time as it used standard pieces of chrome-plated steel tubing commonly used for bicycle frames. The genesis of the first tubular steel chair started from Breuer’s inspiration of the “strength, lightness and utility of the bicycle he was riding.” He initially experimented using lengths of tubular aluminium (an unsuccessful experiment) before opting for “precision steel”.\n\nTubing of this sort was also seen as hygienic, in that the surface could be easily cleaned. Hygiene was a major preoccupation of the modernist movement.\n\r\nThe B33 also uses the strength of the steel to create a cantilevered base, a fundamental break from the traditional use of chair legs. However it was not the first cantilevered chair. In 1926-1927 a side chair was released by Mart Stam and then a Ludwig Mies van der Rohe armchair from 1927 was launched made from tubular steel.) Breuer’s first cantilevered chair was the B32, which was never patented and consisted of a steel support, with a sturdy wooden frame to the cane seat and backing, unlike the B33 which consisted of a single continuous steel frame and “eisengarn” fabric or leather for the seat and back. After a legal dispute in the German courts due to the similarity of the chairs, Mart Stam was eventually credited as the original design and was awarded the European patent for the cantilever chair. As the shape was so similar, the difference in material and properties was thought inconsequential, even though the flexible behaviour of the Breuer chair gave real comfort . Breuer “maintained that he was working on the idea in 1926 and had even discussed it with Stam”. New research indicates that Mart Stam was inspired by a cantilever tubular steel seat he saw installed in a 1926 Tatra T12 two door saloon car.\n\r\nThis chair was acquired as part of the Shekou Project, an international partnership between the V&A and China Merchant Shekou Holdings (CMSK) to open a new cultural platform called Design Society in Shekou. It was included in the inaugural exhibition, ‘Values of Design’, in the V&A Gallery at Design Society in a section exploring new materials.\r\n","physicalDescription":"A chair with a single leg made from tubular steel that is attached to one end of the chair's seat and bent in an L shape The seat is constructed from a red fabric that is stretched in two parts across the seat and back rest.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Breuer, Marcel Lajos","id":"N6957"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Thonet","id":"A15105"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"tubular steel","id":"x30255"},{"text":"cloth","id":"AAT162391"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Interiors","id":"THES48933"},{"text":"Household objects","id":"THES48939"},{"text":"Shekou","id":"THES279777"},{"text":"Values of Design","id":"THES279818"},{"text":"Design Society","id":"THES279819"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2016JG7849","2016JG7850","2016JG7851"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"74","id":"THES49720"},"free":"","case":"CA001","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"chair","id":"AAT37772"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Germany","id":"x28873"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1927-1928","earliest":"1927-01-01","latest":"1928-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"82","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"55","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"60","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This chair was included in ‘Values of Design’ at the V&A Gallery, Design Society in Shenzhen, China in 2017.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Model 'B33' cantilever chair, designed by  Marcel Breuer, 1927-28. Manufactured by Thonet c.1930.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"An art school for a new world\n\nThe Bauhaus was a trailblazing German art school. Founded by architect Walter Gropius in the wake of the First World War in 1919, its influence on art education, product design and architecture still resonates today. In the mid 1920s, the Bauhaus emphasised rational design for industrial manufacture, and this tubular steel chair by Marcel Breuer and the domed table lamp have become some of the school’s most well-known designs. Just like the tea infuser and stand, they draw on a machine aesthetic and use industrial materials.\n\r\nCantilevered tubular steel chair \nB33 chair, 1927–28 (manufactured about 1930)\nDesigned by Marcel Breuer \nManufactured by Gebrüder Thonet, Germany \nTubular steel frame, cloth seat and back \nMuseum no. W.33-2016\n\nGlass-domed table lamp \nMT8 lamp, about 1924\nDesigned by Wilhelm Wagenfeld \nMade at the Bauhaus metal workshop, Germany \nNickel-plated brass and glass \nMuseum no. M.28&A-1989\n\nBall-shaped tea infuser and stand \nAbout 1924\nDesigned by Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Wolfgang Tümpel \nMade at the Bauhaus metal workshop, Germany \nElectroplated metal \nMuseum no. CIRC.35&A-1974\n\nThe object sits in the 'Automation and Labour' section of the Design 1900-Now gallery opened in June 2021.","date":{"text":"2021","earliest":"2021-01-01","latest":"2021-12-31"}},{"text":"Tubular Steel\r\n\r\nTubular steel was mostly used for bicycle frames until designers at the Bauhaus design school began experimenting with it in furniture design. Its availability, cheapness and ability to bend and be structural at the same time allowed designers to explore new sculptural possibilities. The most striking result was the cantilevered chair, such as the B33 by Marcel Breuer. The material's reflective surface was also touted as a hygienic virtue.\r\n\r\nB33\r\nMarcel Breuer\r\nGermany, 1927-1928","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["W.33-2016"],"accessionNumberNum":"33","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":2016,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2017JX4946"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-13","recordCreationDate":"2015-10-12","availableToBook":false}}