Designed by the Hungarian architect and designer Marcel Breuer in 1925, the Wassily Chair is inspired by the curved handle bars of the Adler bicycle, a significant design closely associated with the Bauhaus movement.

To Breuer, the Adler bicycle was not just a transportation tool that he rode on the Bauhaus campus; it was also a timeless symbol of design. He was particularly fascinated by the bent handlebars, which he described as “steel tubes bent like macaroni”. Breuer, however, envisioned his Wassily Chair going further than just a pair of 90-degree curves. He would construct the base solely from a seamless single chrome steel tube without any welded points, with leather seating simply attached. Breuer decided to name the chair after Wassily Kandinsky, the father of abstract painting and a colleague of Breuer’s at the Bauhaus; the Wassily Chair is a symbol of the industrial heroism and engineering invention of the early 20th century. Exquisite macaroni indeed.

Available in Design Within Reach in either leather or fabric, and in a variety of upholsteries and colors.