Bauhaus–Knoll by hekts

BAUHAUS – KNOLL Héctor Marroquin

1919

“Let us then create a new guild of craftsmen without the class distinctions that raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist! Together let us desire, conceive, and create the new structure of the future, which will embrace architecture, and sclupture and painting in one unity and which will one day rise toward the heaven from the hands of million workers like the crystal symbol of a new faith.”

—Walter Gropious

BAUHAUS – KNOLL

I’m the product of parents who devoted their lives to running a successful upholstery shop. I grew up surrounded by pieces of functional design. As a young kid, I would often find myself sketching the frame of Barcelona chairs that were left behind by clients instead of doing my homework. There was a connection between the chair’s structure, chrome surface and sweeping lines that appealed to my visual senses. However, I had no understanding of form and function and how the two co-existed in pieces of furniture such as the Barcelona chair, and even less of an understanding of the impact the defunct school would have in contemporary society. Bauhaus influence can be seen today in the geometric landscape of metropolitan cities and the philosophy established by the school resonates in companies such as Apple, Nike, Braun, and the Hans G. Knoll Furniture Company. Knoll currently succeeds at preserving the revolutionary design principles of the Bauhaus but fails to uphold the Bauhaus idea of delivering high quality products at an affordable price to diversify the consumer range. In order to escape the harsh conditions of the first World War, the visionary architect Walter Gropius actualized his utopian dream of unifying art and craft into a combined discipline by serving as the founder of the Bauhaus (Bauhaus). The school was established in 1919 in the city of Weimar, Germany. One year later the Basic Course was integrated into the curriculum in order to familiarize all incoming students with fundamental principles of design and the nature of materials (Lupton, 2). Gropius established the workshops that trained students as artists and craftsmen through the use of machinery and tools (Bauhaus). Breakthrough ideas in color, space and form were introduced to the visual language of the Bauhaus when artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee joined the staff (Megg’s 311).

Due to lack of support from the Weimar government, the Bauhaus was relocated to Dessau in 1925. During the Dessau period of the Bauhaus, Marcel Breuer created the Wassily chair (Fig 1). According to the Museum of Modern Art, Breuer’s Wassily Chair is “perhaps the single most important innovation in furniture design in the twentieth century” (Bee 128). The chair uses bent tubular steel with an economy of leather that defies spatial perception in every viewpoint and is a testament to the artist’s mastery of form. Inspired by the tubular steel of his bicycle’s handlebars, Breuer believed that the steel could be formed into furniture and with that followed the idea of mass produced steel framed interior furnishings (Bee 128). A future in industry was at the core of the Dessau Bauhaus and with it came ideas of mass production. Bauhaus 1919 – 1933 by Michael Siebenbrodt states the following: The Bauhaus attempted to conceive serial production appropriate for industrial manufacture in the so-called “laboratory workshops,” which were to be offered as high-quality and affordable mass products to a broad class of consumers. The construction methods and materials were relatively inexpensive and put the chair’s production in an affordable bracket. Today one can purchase an original Wassily chair from Knoll for a substantial price of $2498.

1925 Figure 1. Marcel Breuer, Wassily Chair. 1925.

Knoll credits much of its modernist origin to the Bauhaus. An original copy of a Knoll Design book begins by highlighting the rich history of the Bauhaus and linking the company’s heritage to the school (Larabee 8–13). Hans G. Knoll established his furniture company in 1938 and dedicated himself to bringing the modernist vision to America (Larabee 19–23). The company followed in the footsteps of the Bauhaus by promoting the idea of form and economy much in the same way the School promoted the philosophy. An ad published in a 1945 Arts & Architecture magazine features the words “form, structure, economy” positioned next to a photograph of a Risom lounge chair and a catch tag reads “to improve design, to perfect craftsmanship and to lower cost is our constant aim” (Fig 2). The company’s aim to improve design and perfect craftsmanship is still evident today. German designers Markus Jehs and Jügen Laub collaborated with Knoll in 2008 to create a new lounge collection.

In 2009 the Jehs+Laub Lounge chair was introduced and proved that design and craftsmanship are still priority at Knoll (Fig 3). The price of the chair however, does not reflect the company’s statement in the 1945 advertisement that states lowering cost is Knoll’s aim. The price of $3100 for the Jehs+Laub lounge chair on the Knoll website proves that company is not interested in offering high quality products at affordable rate. Instead, the company is turning away design-savvy consumers with high prices and is perpetuating a market for unsanctioned reproductions.

Figure 2. Knoll Advertisement for Risom Chair. 1945.

1945

2009

Figure 3. Markus Jehs and Jergen Laub, Jehs+Laub Lounge Chair. 2009.

2016–

Conducting a google search for a Wassily replica chair will yield results of a $300–$800 price range for chairs that are nearly identical to the originals that cost $2498. Why does one need to purchase a chair from Knoll, if there are nearly exact reproductions in existence? Preserving the designer’s original vision and keeping the design pure to it’s true form should be the primary reason one should contemplate owning such well designed pieces. However, the current rift between prices in the original and replicas is substantial and can ultimately be the factor in which, the consumer decides to go. Knoll Design suggests that the Bauhaus “made it possible to produce objects for daily use both simple and elegant, and potentially inexpensive enough for ordinary people to afford” (Larrabee 13). Therefore, I propose the current board members of Knoll Inc. get their shit together and produce affordable products to ensure a legacy that is worthy of following in the footsteps of the Bauhaus.

Works Cited Bauhaus: The Face of the 20th Century. Films On Demand. Films Media Group, 1994. Web. 11 Apr. 2016. Bee, Harriet Schoenholz., and Cassandra Heliczer. MOMA Highlights: 350 Works from the Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2004. Print. Larrabee, Eric, and Massimo Vignelli. Knoll Design. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1981. Print. Lupton, Ellen, and J. Abbott. Miller. The ABCs of : The Bauhaus and Design Theory. London: Thames and Hudson, 1993. Print. Meggs, Philip B., Alston W. Purvis, and Philip B. Meggs. Meggs' History of Graphic Design. Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley & Sons, 2006. Print. Siebenbrodt, Michael, and SchĂśbe, Lutz. Bauhaus. New York, US: Parkstone International, 2015. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 10 April 2016. Weller, Margot. "The Knoll Transcripts." Art Papers Magazine 39.1 (2015): 50. Biography Reference Bank (H.W. Wilson). Web. 12 Apr. 2016.

Image Citations Breuer, Marcel. Wassily Chair. Digital image. Knoll. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016. ConsemĂźller, Erich. Bauhaus Scene (Lis Beyer or Ise Gropius in a tubular steel chair by Marcel Breuer). Digital image. Bridgeman Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2016. Jehs+Laub Lounge Chair. Digital image. Knoll. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2016. Knoll Advertisement for Risom Chair. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.