stahlrohr revolution

The tubular steel furniture by Marcel Breuer (1902–1981) is considered an outstanding design object of the twentieth century. Yet widely unknown is the development of the first prototype to its early series production. Breuer’s fellow compatriot Kálmán Lengyel (1900–1945), to whom this comprehensive publication is dedicated, played a significant role in this.

In 1927, they founded the company Standard Möbel together, in order to organize the series production and distribution of the tubular steel furniture. The development of the company and the work of Breuer, Lengyel, and the later director Anton Lorenz are depicted here in-depth with hitherto unpublished archive material. As a prominent furniture designer and architect, Lengyel also founded his own furniture brand, Ka-Le-Möbel, worked as an interior designer in Paris, and constructed buildings in Berlin, Szeged, and Budapest.

This publication expands our knowledge about the early models and highlights the life and work of the protagonists of the tubular steel revolution!