Cantilever chair

A cantilever chair is a chair whose seating and framework are not supported by the typical arrangement of 4 legs, but instead is held erect and aloft by a single leg or legs that are attached to one end of a chair's seat and bent in an L shape, thus also serving as the chair's supporting base. Nearly a century after its inception, tubular steel remains the prime choice for the cantilever chair with Marcel Breuer being perhaps the greatest champion of this design technique; using the overhanging cantilever styling in both his furniture and architecture. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto are other historical figures who contributed to the popularity of the cantilever chair.

A Cantilever chair

With the creation of his Wassily Chair in 1925, Marcel Breuer holds the distinction of first using bent and polished tubular steel as both a supporting framework and a decorative element for furniture. A year later, however, it was Mart Stam who was awarded the European patent for the cantilever chair.[1] It's been suggested recently, that Mart Stam might have been inspired by a cantilever tubular steel seat seen installed in a 1926 Tatra T12 two-door saloon car.[2]