A Pair of Bahaus Beech Seagrass Rope Armchairs, by Erich Dieckma

A pair of Bahaus beech wood and woven seagrass rope armchairs, by Erich Dieckmann (1896-1944).
Circa 1925-1930.
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Erich Dieckmann was one of the most important Bauhaus furniture designers. From 1918 until 1920 Erich Dieckmann studied architecture at the technischen Hochschule in Danzig. However, he dropped out of architecture after finishing the foundation course and went to Dresden to embark on studying painting and drawing. In 1921 Erich Dieckmann went to Weimar and enrolled in the Staatliche Bauhaus. There Erich Dieckmann served an apprenticeship in carpentry from 1921 to 1924. After taking his first-level craftsman's examinations, Erich Dieckmann became deputy head of the furniture workshop when Marcel Breuer left. When the Bauhaus moved to Dessau in 1925, Erich Dieckmann transferred to the Staatliche Bauhochschule in Weimar, where he was head of the carpentry workshop from 1925 until 1930. In 1931 Erich Dieckmann went to Halle, to the Kunstgewerbeschule Burg Giebichenstein, remaining head of the carpentry workshop there until his dismissal by the National Socialists. From 1939 Erich Dieckmann was in Berlin. At the Bauhaus Erich Dieckmann worked chiefly on developing type ranges for seat furniture. Like Marcel Breuer, Erich Dieckmann experimented with steel tubing. Dieckmann's most important pieces are, however, his standardized, simply constructed wooden furnishings. The structure of this seat furniture is stringently geometric, with frames constructed of wood that was virtually square in cross section or flat and arranged at right angles. Another typical feature of these Erich Dieckmann pieces is the linkage of armrests and chair legs by a continuous runner construction. The use of quality hardwoods, rope and cane matting moderated the austere geometry of the designs.