The Cesca chair ( /ˈtʃɛskə/) is a chair design created in 1928 by the Hungarian-American architect and designer Marcel Breuer. It consists of a tubular steel frame and a rattan seat and backing. [1] [2] The design was named as a tribute to Breuer’s adopted daughter Francesca (nicknamed Cesca). [3] One of the original chairs designed by Breuer is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. [4]
The design was purchased in 1968 by Knoll Associates. Since then,[ as of?] approximately 250,000 of the chairs have been purchased. [5] The three official manufacturers of the chair were Thonet (from 1927), Gavina (1950s), and Knoll (1960s). [6]
In 1928, the Cesca chair was the first such tubular-steel-frame, caned-seat chair to be mass-produced. [7] It was among the ten most common such chairs. One of the original ones from that time sits in the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. [8] Cara McCarty, a curator at the museum, referred to the chair as being "among the 10 most important chairs of the 20th century". [9]