Bruer's work was...

Bruer's work was originally licensed to Thonet. Then to Gavina. Then Gavina was bought by Knoll in 1968, primarily to acquire the Bruer catalog.

I myself have 2 Wassily chairs manufactured by Knoll in 1971.

My assumption would be that to a collector Gavina Chairs are probably worth a bit more than the Knoll pieces, but of course it all depends on the condition they are in. Also, I've read that Knoll made changes in the manufacturing techniques that improved the quality of the product. The Gavina chairs are older and more rare, the Knolls are often considered better made. The earliest Thonet chairs are considered the best made, most rare, and much more valuable. In the earliest production runs the Wassily was welded and could not be disassembled.

Like automobile models, the manufacturing of the chair changed slightly from year to year throughout its life. You can determine more precisely the date of manufacture by observing these changes in fabrication.

A few examples:

- On the floor facing spans of tube, are the two ends of the tubing welded, or do they have screws on the underside into a small piece of wood dowel inserted inside the ends of tubing, or is there a metal piece of hardware holding the ends together?

- How are the left and right side bars attached? Are they welded flush inside the front and back tube that meets the side arm to the floor span? If they are attached, and not welded, are they on the inside of the main tube or the outside? Are they attached with a nut and bolt (with the nut sticking out to the side), or is there a sinked-screw recessed into the side? Is that screw a hex head?

- How is the tubing sealed on the end? Does it have a push-cap held in with tension/friction? Is it welded closed? Is the surface of the closure convex, or flush fat?

- Are the leather straps on the arm rests and the back rests sewed together, top-to-bottom, or do they loop continuously around the tubing with metal springs on the underside of the leather straps pulling them taut?

My best guess...
How old do they look? My bet is they are pretty recent. I think Knoll used the wooden dowel to join the two ends until sometime in the 80s. Only Knoll used the hex screws, and on my 70s models, the end caps are convex rather than flat. The flat caps are a little surprising to me. Most later models are convex... if only slightly.

I know what most of the changes have been, but I'm not knowledgable enough to tell you precisely when each change took place.

Knoll has generally been pretty ruthless about protecting the design against bootlegs. To combat them, they did license the design for lower-end manufactured versions, especially in the 90s. The "Wassily Replicas" were made out of a lower cost metal, but the main giveaway is that they were only made in vinyl, not leather. It was a pretty high quality vinyl, but the give away was in the stitch-work. The vinyl licensed replicas only had a stick at each end of the strap where it attached to the tube, but no seams running up the length of the straps as the leather versions do. The vinyl was held together with an adhesive. Without looking up close, they were pretty convincing. I had one for a couple of years and kept it in the same room with the two leather Knolls. Most people wouldn't notice unless I pointed it out. The licensed replica cost $199. I gave it away to a friend a few years ago.

Wassily follow-up
Thanks for your help, Chris.

I guess the caps are slightly convex at the edges. I'll take another look.

The chairs look like they could date back to the 70s, but the leather was really dried out and two of the armstraps had cracked off.

When I brought the straps to a local shoe repair to resew, the clerk seemed skeptical that the straps were leather, even though they were super thick, smelled of leather, had full-length seams on both ends, etc. They're definitely not vinyl, but has there ever been some kind of composite leather?

There definitely wasn't a wooden dowel inside that bottom joint. It was some kind of metal.

So, do you think the hex bolts a good indicator of an authentic Wassily?

Thanks.

FYI
I was at an art gallery yesterday, and they had a new Wassily chair in their lobby. It had flat welded tube ends! Apparently sometime recently Knoll must have done away with the slightly convex pop-in caps and returned to the flat welded tube ends as Thonet use to manufacture them. It's a subtle detail, but it made for a higher quality finishing touch. Very pleasing.

taking apart the wassily chair
Hi,

just wondering about how exactly you got the frame of the wassily chair apart. I need to do a little repair to the pieces of leather but can't seem to get the stubborn frame apart. Mine definitely have a metal piece inside the tubes on the bottom. Any suggestions?

Deconstructing Wassily
Thanks! I got all the way until the bottom joints. Did you use an allen wrench? As in, a tiny allen wrench?

Wassily chair bought in the 70's
hi.

I have a wassily chair that was baught back in the 70's by my father. I was wondering just how authentic it is and its value.

description: very thick and soft black leather or vinyl (i believe it's leather), hex screws, roundish caps, with no cracks or rips.

any help would be great.

thanks

Can anyone authenticate my Wassily Chairs?
Hi-
would someone who knows, please evaluate my chairs for authenticity? They have the philips head screws into the dowel at the bottom seam,which is the only seam in the frame, and the front-to-back structural components have welded ends, which are flat to very slightly convex, but most definately are welded. The dimensions match what is in the knoll specifications. The leather straps are sewn entirely across at the ends, forming a sleeve around the chrome frame. Unfortunately, one seat was repaired on one side- there is a double line of stitching that gives away the repair. The leather is in good condition, considering the reported age of the chairs (the lower backs and seats have a few cracks on the outside, where it wraps around the frame): I bought them at an estate sale and was told they were purchased in the 70's. According to Knoll, they did not mark this piece with a signature until 1990, so i am not surprised that there is no signature. What makes me wonder, is the fact that the screws holding the frame components together are allen screws. What do you think? Did Knoll ever use allen screws? I read a post from chris, who said that Knoll has manufactured this chair since 1968, so my guess is that if my chairs are authentic, they would have been made by Knoll, and Knoll changed details as they were able to improve the quality of manufacturing with new technologies....

Spare parts for Gavina Wassily wanted
Good day,

My name is Ton, age 53 and i am new on the forum but have been a design addict for many years, started Thonet bentwood, then the Bauhaus caracteristics as Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier , Breuer and finally switched to the Memphis on wich we sit currently.
I bought myself (finally) the Breuer Wassily in canvas, produced by Gavina in app. 1964. It is in a fine shape but there are a few hex?screws missing, they have been replaced by ordinary screws, is there anyone who can help me finding the hex screws marked icman?

Thanks in advance

Ton

Allen Wrench and WD 40
i used an Allen Wrench and WD40 and made quick work of deconstructing my chair. Thanks