Dutch architect, urban planner and furniture designer, Mart Stam, is recognised as the inventor behind the cantilevered chair that largely defined Bauhaus design. Serving as a guest lecturer at the Bauhaus and later named director of the Netherlands’ Institute of Industrial Art, his contribution to design is wide-reaching.
Mart Stam boasted a career that intersected with some of the key moments of 20th-century design, including the formation of the Bauhaus and the post-war rebuilding of Germany. The architect behind the Theosophical Church in Amsterdam, Stam also designed a building for the Weißenhof housing estate in Stuttgart. His building sat among others designed by the likes of Le Corbusier, Peter Behrens, Bruno Taut, Hans Poelzig, and Walter Gropius.
Earning himself a place in the design hall of fame, Mart Stam created his first cantilevered chair during the 1920s. Connecting piping with flanges, Stam developed the principle of chairs that no longer rest on four legs. At the time, Stam was not particularly interested in the flexing effect of bent tubular steel, a technique that would soon become instrumental to the Bauhaus. Initially, his focus was on the simplicity of the form, which complemented perfectly the modern buildings of the time.
S 33 Chair in Brown Leather
The first cantilever chair design in furniture history, the S 33 Chair in chocolate brown leather by Mart Stam has earnt its place in the design hall of fame.
Originally designed in 1927 for the Weißenhof housing estate in Stuttgart, the S 33 Chair was inspired by gas pipes.
