The reason that some pieces of contemporary furniture have become classics is because of the innovative design features they incorporate. The furniture of Marcel Breuer is a case in point. His contemporary furniture designs are known all over the world because of their unique and original looks. Marcel Breuer was part of the Bauhaus movement and the tenets of this school find their way into his furniture design. The Wassily Chair & Arched Foot Lamp are prime examples of this pared down, modernist look, and although it's commonly believed that the Wassily Chair was designed for the artist Wassily Kandinsky, this was not actually the case. However, the artist greatly admired Marcel Breuer's work and indeed, Breuer later made Kandinsky a copy of the chair for use in his own home. The name stuck though, and the Wassily Chair is now one of the most famous and instantly recognisable pieces of Breuer's work in contemporary furniture.
The Wassily Chair designed in 1925 was made of bent tubular steel, and is said to have been inspired by the curved handlebars on Breuer's bicycle. This chair was the first to be fashioned from seamless steel tubing, and with the use of leather slings for the seat, arms and backrest, it truly is a stunning piece of furniture. The Arched Foot Lamp is another Marcel Breuer design that has stood the test of time - much emulated, it's now a classic piece of contemporary furniture that graces the homes of many interior design enthusiasts.
Eero Saarinen is another widely recognised name in the world of contemporary furniture and his Tulip Chair, Tulip Armchair & Tulip Table have become iconic pieces that are known all over the world. Saarinen first designed the Tulip Chair in 1940, with Charles Eames, for a home furnishings competition and gained instant critical recognition. This led to the birth of the entire Tulip Range, incorporating a trio of items - the Tulip Chair, Tulip Armchair & Tulip Table. The range is so named because of its delicate structure and stem like shape. With his experimental use of new materials and minimalist form, Eero Saarinen's Tulip Range has a space age aesthetic and is contemporary furniture at its best.
Eero Saarinen's Tulip Chair, Tulip Armchair and Tulip Table were instantly recognised as classic pieces of contemporary furniture as soon as they were designed and were taken into production by the Knoll furniture company. In deference to his power and foresight as a designer, these pieces are still as popular, decades later.
Both of these designers have created timeless pieces of contemporary furniture and the fact that their designs are still emulated all over the world shows just how strong an influence these items had in the world of interior furnishings.
