The Weißenhof Siedlung in Stuttgart
The Werkbund exhibition "Die Wohnung" in the Weißenhof Siedlung in Stuttgart in 1927 demonstrated solutions for the new way of living and was met with much acclaim and discussion on an international level. For the first time, tubular steel furniture was presented to the public on a larger scale. This trend continued during the subsequent exhibitions in 1928 in Brno, in 1929 in Breslau, in 1930 in Stockholm, and in 1930 and 1932 in Zurich. While preparing the exhibition in Stuttgart, young Mart Stam presented his idea of the cantilever chair to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe – Stam picks up the wedding invitation of Willi Baumeister lying on the table and on the back of it draws a piece of furniture that he recently created for his pregnant wife. Stam's design already did without the back legs of the chair but was not yet flexible. Mies van der Rohe later realized the idea of the cantilever chair in his elegant armchair S 533 – at the time MR 10 – for the first time. One year later, Marcel Breuer presented his cantilever chair S 32. Mart Stam was later given the artistic copyright for the cubic design of the cantilever chair. Thonet has owned these rights since 1932.
