According to the Wikipedia definition, a cantilever chair is a chair without back legs, whose seat yields springily under the weight of a person – “swings.”
A “Kragstuhl” (German, from kragen = protrude) – self-supporting chair – is a chair without back legs, which lacks this springy seat due to its rigid construction. The cantilever chair is therefore a variant of the “Kragstuhl”.
Among the inventors of this type of seating are Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Mart Stam, who first presented their models in 1925 and 1926.
Authorship is difficult to objectively determine. After various lawsuits regarding the question of authorship of the cantilever chair, the German Reich Court awarded artistic authorship to Mart Stam, or rather Anton Lorenz, as the owner of Mart Stam’s rights, in 1932.
In 1926, Mies van der Rohe filed a patent for his version of the cantilever chair, the MR 20, even before the public presentation of the Stam chair, which he later successfully defended.
Marcel Breuer’s share in the authorship of the cantilever chair was rejected by the courts, but is still controversial among art historians. The Metropolitan Museum in New York, for example, lists Marcel Breuer as the inventor of the cantilever chair.
In addition to the above-mentioned spiritual fathers of the cantilever chair, there were also other designers, to mention only the most important:
Alvar Aalto (1898–1976), Finland
Willem Hendrik Gispen (1890–1981), Netherlands
Jindřich Halabala (1903–1978), Czechoslovakia
Anton Lorenz (1861–1964), Hungary, Germany, USA
Verner Panton (1926–1998), Denmark
Ladislav Žák (1900–1973), Czechoslovakia
The main producers are/were:
Artek, Finland
Desta (German Steel Furniture), Berlin, Germany, 1929-37
Hynek Gottwald, Czechoslovakia – until 1948 (successor Kovona n.p.)
Knoll Int., USA
Kovona n.p., Czechoslovakia, 1948-1952
L. & C. Arnold Schorndorf near Stuttgart, Germany
Mauser, Germany
Mücke-Melder, Czechoslovakia – until 1948 (successor Kovona n.p.)
Robert Slezák, Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic
Standard Möbel, Berlin, Germany, 1927-29
Thonet, Germany
UP závody (Spojené uměleckoprůmyslové závody v Brně), Czechoslovakia, 1921 – 1948
Willem H. Gispen Metalworking Factory, Holland
Many models were offered by various manufacturers under different names.
As early as 1929, the L33 and ST 12, as well as the L34 and SS32, were manufactured by Thonet and
DESTA, and from 1931 onwards, they were produced as Model 104 by Willem H. Gispen.
This is how scholars (Jan van Geest, Otakar Máčel. CHAIRS OF STEEL Metal Furniture 1925-1940. Verlag König, Cologne 1980) formulate the status quo:
“The descriptions and dating of industrial products are difficult.
Since most of these are multiples, much attention is paid to the attribution and dating of the ‘Concetto’. But it is precisely the intangible nature of the designs that forces historians to make assumptions and hypotheses.
Deviations from the prototypes are often more dependent on chance and economic considerations than on the conscious design of a chair model.”
The most famous models include:
Cantilever chair MR 10/20 by Thonet
Designer: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Cantilever armchair S411 by Thonet.
Also produced under license as FN 24 by Mücke-Melder, EK34 by Hynek Gottwald, later Kovona, K29 by Robert Slezák, K411 by W. Knoll.
Designer: Thonet, Willem H. Gispen
Cantilever armchair FAMOS FN 21 by Mücke-Melder, Kovona
Designer: Anton Lorenz
Cantilever armchair Model 412 by Willem H. Gispen
Designer: Willem H. Gispen
Cantilever armchair RS7 by Mauser Werke Waldeck
Barcelona armchair by Berliner Metallwerke Josef Müller and Bamberg Metallwerkstätten
Designer: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Cantilever armchair H-91 by UP závody.
Designer: Jindřich Halabala
Armchair LC1
Designer: Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand
Ceska Chair B32 by Thonet
Designer: Marcel Breuer
Wassily Armchair B3 by Thonet
Designer: Marcel Breuer
Although a number of armchairs are still in production today, by purchasing this vintage tubular steel armchair, you are acquiring a piece of history with the charm of time.
Since we only offer (with a few exceptions) fully restored furniture – new foam and upholstery, renewed spring core, wood sanded and varnished, steel tubing industrially cleaned and chrome-plated – you are acquiring a vintage armchair that is almost like new, of high quality, and at an affordable price.
