Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Tubular metal furniture began in 1909 with an Italian manufacturing company by the name of Dalmine. They began making seamless steel tubes for commercial use. The modernist designers of the time were followers of the Bauhaus teachings and focused on “Design for the masses”.

In 1914 a company in Japan also began manufacturing seamless steel tubes, and in 1954 two companies opened for business in Latin America. The metal furniture trend even spread to America where companies such as Chicago and Grand Rapids Co. of Michigan began producing tubular metal furniture.Tubular metal spread through out the world quickly during the first half of the 20th century.

However, it was the Europeans that first realized this new material could be used for making indoor furniture. In the 1920′s many designers such as Charlotte Perriand, Mart Stam, Mies Van der Rohe, Lilly Reich, Marcel Breuer, Eileen Gray and even the famous industrial designer Gilbert Rohde, began making use of this metal, designing such things as chairs, side tables, and chaise lounges.

When plastic furniture was introduced into the market, metal furniture declined for a time, but now, during the 21st century, metal furniture has once again become very popular and used often in many homes and offices. It is often described as “functional and modern” and gives an office a streamlined clean cut look, while also giving the room an aura of quiet power. Metal furniture is used in hospitals for it’s hygienic qualities and ease of use. In homes, metal furniture is considered sturdier and longer lasting. Treated metal furniture can withstand the elements of the outdoors while still adding grace and beauty to any garden, patio, front porch or back yard.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 17th, 2009 at 12:32 pm and is filed under Furniture Designers, Metal Crafts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.