Vitra Design Museum presents 'Anton Lorenz - from Avant-Garde to Industry' exhibition

The Vitra Design Museum marks the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus with an exhibition on the entrepreneur and designer Anton Lorenz at the Vitra Schaudepot. As a key figure in the rise of modern tubular steel furniture, Lorenz’s importance stems not only from his furniture designs, but also from his patented inventions and successful entrepreneurial ventures. The show encompasses furniture by such legendary designers as Marcel Breuer, Mart Stam and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, in addition to objects and documents from the estate of Anton Lorenz. Like virtually no other material, tubular steel embodied the avant-garde ideals of the Bauhaus, notably, the quest for a »machine aesthetic« as well as radically new structural solutions, which culminated in the famous cantilever chair.

Installation view »Anton Lorenz: From Avant-Garde to Industry« © Vitra Design Museum, photo: Bettina Matthiessen

Complemented by furniture designs from numerous protagonists of the Bauhaus era as well as pieces by Lorenz himself, this show in the Vitra Schaudepot offers a fascinating look behind the scenes of avant-garde design

In 1925, Marcel Breuer became the first designer to construct furniture out of tubular steel – a step that would revolutionise modern design. By the late 1920s, a new industry had emerged that made the new tubular steel furniture accessible to an ever-growing consumer market. As one of the first to recognise the potential of this new type of furniture, Anton Lorenz played a key role in these developments and worked for several prominent manufacturers, including Standard Möbel, Desta and Thonet. Lorenz also proved so skilful in procuring patents and founding businesses that he soon gained a reputation as the »éminence grise« of tubular steel furniture, contributing to the success of this new method of design with a global network of enterprises and contacts.

In addition to his activities as a designer and business manager, Lorenz had already begun to explore ergonomic aspects of seating and reclining furniture in the late 1920s. In 1939, he emigrated to the United States and established a new form that proved equally successful: the adjustable recliner, which still occupies a central place in many of today’s living rooms.

Anton Lorenz: From Avant-Garde to Industry

Curator: Susanne Graner, Head of Collection and Archive

Location: Vitra Schaudepot Charles-Eames-Strasse 2 79576 Weil am Rhein Germany

Duration: 22 February – 19 May 2019

Opening hours: Daily from 10 am to 6 pm

Further information: www.design-museum.de