Simplicity that unfolds its effect everywhere: Mart Stam removed the back legs from furniture that for centuries had been created based on the same principles. Through evolutionary refinement, an object that simply looks good in any place where both understatement and quality are wanted. For his furniture designs, Mart Stam placed a high value on usefulness and austerity with regard to aesthetics as well as material. The straight-lined form, a clear construction and improved sitting comfort resulted from this approach. Stam achieved the greatest possible reduction with the cantilever chair S 43 by combining the tubular steel frame with moulded wood elements for seat and backrest. The pure, restrained form of this cantilever chair makes it an exemplary design in the spirit of modernism. Today, Thonet owns the artistic copyright for the strictly cubic chair without back legs. The reading hall for natural sciences of the German National Library in Leipzig was furnished with the cantilever chair S 43 in 1933. More than 70 years later, Thonet delivered more of the S 43 chairs as an addition to the existing furniture. Only tubular steel furniture of the highest quality, as is typical for Thonet, exhibit such durability and sustainability. In all of his furniture designs Mart Stam relied on straightforward forms, an aesthetic economy of means in the construction and the benefit of improved seating comfort. In the case of S 43 he combined the tubular steel frame with moulded plywood shells for seat and back and thus created an absolute reduction. Due to the comfortable flexing effect of the frame, upholstery is unnecessary. Its clear, reserved form makes this cantilever chair an exemplary design in the spirit of modernism. Today, Thonet owns the artistic copyright for this strictly cubic “chair with no rear legs”.
*Artistic copyright Mart Stam
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Mart Stam, born 1899 in Purmerend in the Netherlands, was among the leaders of Modern Architecture and a pioneer in contemporary furniture design. He attracted much attention in 1927 with his architectural contribution to the Weißenhof Estate in Stuttgart both as an architect and as a designer experimenting with tubular steel. In 1928 and 1929 he worked as an architect in Frankfurt, where he helped build the Hellerhof housing estate, among other projects. At the same time he served as a guest lecturer at the Bauhaus, teaching elementary construction theory and urban planning. From 1930 to 1934, Mart Stam was active in Russia and other countries; he subsequently worked as an architect in Amsterdam until 1948. In 1939 he assumed the top position at the Academy of Arts and Crafts in Amsterdam, and in 1950 he was named director of the Conservatory for Applied Art in Berlin-Weißensee. He returned to Amsterdam in 1953 but emigrated to Switzerland in 1977, where he died on February 23, 1986, in Goldach. *Artistic copyright Mart Stam
| Armrest height | 66 cm |
|---|---|
| Width | 56 cm |
| Height | 82 cm |
| Seat height | 47 cm |
| Depth | 52 cm |
| Weight | 7.2 kg |