»My flight of fancy – which came to me whilst cycling in a train of thought that led from the handlebars of my bicycle to the engineering of tubular steel furni­ture – quite unexpectedly spread across the globe,« remarked Marcel Breuer in 1937 on the inspiration which led to the development in 1924 of tubular steel ­furniture and the most influential contribution to modern furniture to emerge from Germany in the first half of the twentieth century.

»With its fabric straps, tubular steel furniture offers all the comfort of well-upholstered furnishings without the weight, expense, cumbersome bulk and unhygienic qualities. An individual model was developed for each form of use and­its design 

improved until no further en­hancement was possible. Here, for the first time ever, seamless steel tubing has been employed in the construction of seating furniture. At smaller scales this material is more resilient than any other previously utilized in seating furniture. The material affords the furniture a dis­tinctively light character and appearance.« (From the catalogue published by Marcel Breuer’s Standard-Möbel company, Berlin 1926 – Reprint Tecta 1992)