Sinewy chrome legs...
Elegant caned seat...
Rich birch wood...
Introducing, the cesca....
What's like, the right amount of creepy for this?
The cesca, also know as the b32
b64 if it has arms
is kind of having a moment.
Full disclosure, I am literally sitting on one right now.
Have been since at least 1999.
But this chair is more than just a throne for toddler-me to practice my penmanship.
It’s more than a trendy decor item.
Or popular movie set piece.
It’s a design icon.
In the collections of some of the world’s most major museums.
And considered “among the most important chairs of the 20th century.”
So where did this chair come from?
And why is it everywhere?
The cesca chairs story begins here.
At the Bauhaus.
The famed German art school slash commune slash never-ending party slash genius factory.
It was founded in 1919 by this architect, Walter Gropius.
His goal was to merge art and industry.
Creating work that was deeply modern and simultaneously beautiful, functional, and reproducible.
Which was a pretty radical change from
the exclusivity and ornamental frills of other design movements.
Look at these two teapots both from 1920s Germany.
This one is beautiful, but mostly decorative.
On the Bauhaus one, everything is intentional.
The curved, wooden handle makes pouring easy and comfortable.
The slanted spout prevents drips.
And it definitely looks sturdy and industrial.
Except this teapot was hand crafted out of silver and ebony.
It was wildly expensive.
Still is.
Even though Bauhaus designs looked utilitarian.
Most of them were basically impossible to make at scale.
That is, until our hero, Marcel Breuer
Mr. Cesca chair himself
stepped in and changed everything.
Breuer was an early student of the Bauhaus
and in 1925, he was ruminating on their whole manufacturing problem when inspiration struck.
He looked at his bicycle’s handlebars and realized
to paraphrase: Bent tubular steel was Bauhaus as heck.
It’s sleek, light, shiny, strong and — this one’s a direct quote
can be bent “like macaroni”.
First, he made this chair.
Now known as the Wassily chair.
And then a bunch of other chairs and tables and stools
and this... couch?
But, for Breuer, those pieces still weren’t modern enough.
The ultimate creation, he wrote, would be a
“chair that floated on an elastic column of air.”
And in 1928 Breuer had another one of those eureka moments.
He flipped a stool on its side and thus the cantilever chair was born.
Soon after, he debuted the b32.
And with it, he achieved the purest manifestation of Bauhaus ideals.
A chair that showcased the gleaming modernity of chrome.
Seemed to defy the laws of gravity.
And, crucially, only required a handful of pre-made materials to make.
Soon, Thonet — a company already world famous for mass producing bent wooden chairs
was making tons of b32s.
And as other Bauhausians designed their own versions
a bunch of other tubular cantilever chairs.
But it’s pretty universally held that this is the best of them.
Most cantilever chairs require braces.
Which both ruin the visual lines of the chair and makes them rigid and uncomfortable.
Breuer’s chair doesn’t need those, thanks to its structured wooden framing
which holds everything together, but still allows for flexibility and bounce.
That added structure also means the chair can be made of one continuous length of steel
which is bent 16 times rather than a bunch of different tubes fused together.
which makes the chair lighter and easier to make.
Plus the cane gave the chair an airy transparency.
A feature Thonet played up, in their 1930s advertising.
Of which there was a lot.
Thonet really wanted these designs to take off.
The problem was they were expensive.
And they seemed a little too modern for the average home.
Until the 60s.
A sort of hybrid futuristic look became all the rage
and the b32 fit in perfectly.
Gavina, the go-to Italian modernist brand, began selling it.
And they gave it a new name: Cesca
from Francesca, Breuer’s daughter’s name.
As the mid-century look picked up steam, so did the cesca.
But unlike those newer designs the cesca wasnt copyrighted.
So manufacturers started making completely legal cesca copies.
And marketing them as “Breuer style chairs”.
By 1980, the cesca was ubiquitous.
One reviewer noted it was “as common, as imitated...
and as mass produced as a 'pair of Calvin Klein jeans'"
Which, at the time, was just about the highest praise there was.
After that, the cesca never quite went away.
Today, there are many places to buy one
and countless second hand ones floating around.
Which only seems to drive up demand.
Its appeal is only getting broader as both Bauhaus and modernism become popular again.
In short, this chair is everywhere because
ever since its inception nearly a century ago,
it's been a design marvel.
And, quite frankly, cool as hell.