Marcel Breuer married traditional craftsmanship with industrial methods and materials to help make tubular steel furniture an international sensation and a modern institution. The cantilevered form exploits the possibilities unique to the material and gives the chair added flexibility and comfort.

Details
  • Category
    Office Chairs
  • Range
    MillerKnoll
  • Brand
    Knoll
  • Designer
    Marcel Breuer
Specifications

Dimensions: W470 x D570 x H800 x SH451 x AH686mm

Frame: Frame is 1” diameter chrome-plated round steel tube. Seat and back are solid beech with either a clear natural lacquer or matte ebonized finish and woven cane insets

Finish: Polished finish

Detail: The KnollStudio logo and signature of Marcel Breuer are stamped into the base of the chair. Plastic glides snap into base to protect floors

Design Story

“At that time I was rather idealistic. 23 years old. I made friends with a young architect, and I bought my first bicycle. I learned to ride the bicycle and talked to this young fellow and told him that the bicycle seems to be a perfect production because it hasn’t changed in the last twenty, thirty years. It is still the original bicycle form. He said, ‘Did you ever see how they make those parts? How they bend those handlebars? You would be interested because they bend those steel tubes like macaroni.’ This somehow remained in my mind, and I started to think about steel tubes which are bent into frames—probably that is the material you could use for an elastic and transparent chair. Typically, I was very much engaged with the transparency of the form. That is how the first chair was made…I realized that the bending had to go further. It should only be bent with no points of welding on it so it could also be chromed in parts and put together. That is how the first Wassily was born.”After completing the Wassily, Breuer felt that the potential grace of the material was not yet fully exploited. The Wassily design was very much influenced by the constructivist theories of the Dutch De Stjil movement. A familiar form — in this case the classic club chair — reduced to its elemental lines and planes. The result was an overlapping, dense arrangement of leather and tubing. For the Cesca chairs Breuer sought to better celebrate the new material. An attempt to reduce visual noise led him to the continuous line of steel supporting a cantilevered seat — one of the most copied concepts in 20th century furniture.

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Unison is recognised as one of New Zealand market’s leading quality providers of interior commercial furniture and lighting.

Our aim is to provide design led, future proofed, quality, commercial products from world renown suppliers; to help customers create healthy, fun, collaborative, flexible and engaging environments.

We aim to help businesses create a workplace which will:

  • Enhance the wellbeing and health of the workforce
  • Attract and retain top employees
  • Enhance collaboration, innovation and productivity
  • Improve bottom line performance

We view the workplace as an “evolution” and never a one-time event, and recognise the importance of offering flexible quality solutions within a range of products and services, allowing our customer’s investment to evolve along with their business strategy.

With over 25 years of experience in the field and access to the world’s leading products, the team behind Unison bring with them the skills, knowledge and passion to help create spaces that drive productivity and long-term value.  Unison works in partnership with you on every aspect of your project from planning through to specifying, delivery and after sales support.

We’ve worked with businesses of all sizes and their A&D firms to understand, plan, design, develop, and build great workplaces.

And we recognise the importance of providing exceptional customer service so at we are focused on operational excellence and an enhanced customer experience.

“Research confirms what we know from common sense: a happy and healthy workplace leads to contented, productive staff, improved attraction and retention, stronger financial performance, faster growth, and an effective competitive edge”.

In Unison with Suppliers

Unison has exclusive distribution agreements in New Zealand with a range of world-leading international furniture manufacturers, so we can provide businesses with the right furnishing solution that best fits their needs.

The team at Unison have many years of experience working with leading suppliers, both locally and internationally.  From international manufacturers such as Herman Miller, Walter Knoll, Palau, Howe, Segis, Billiani and Muuto, through to local custom manufacturing solutions.

These manufacturers specialise in their respective niches and produce the best options available in the market, this includes:

Herman Miller – workstations, ergonomic seating, meeting room tables, classic designs – Eames, Nelson.

Walter Knoll – extensive soft-seating range German designed but manufactured in Australia.

Muuto - affordable luxury - a complete collection of Scandinavian furniture and lighting

Palau – World leading manufacturer of collaborative solutions and acoustic booths..

Howe – famous 40/4 chair and elegant demountable boardroom room tables

Segis and Billiani   – all offer collections of beautifully designed mixed material products for café and contract spaces.