Marcel Breuer was an apprentice at the Bauhaus in 1925 when he conceived the first tubular steel chair, the Wassily chair, based on the tubed frame of a bicycle. Knoll is the only authorized and licensed manufacturer of the Wassily chair. Marcel Breuer's signature is stamped into the base of the frame and every chair has an individual identification number to verify authenticity. If it does not display the Knoll logo type and bear Marcel Breuer's signature, it is a counterfeit.

Protégé of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer embodied many of the School's distinctive concepts and was and one of the School's most famous students. He returned to teach carpentry from 1925-1928, during which he designed the tubular-steel furniture collection. His attention drifted towards architecture, and after practicing privately, he worked as a professor at Harvard's School of Design under Gropius. Breuer was also honored as the first architect to be the sole artist of an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Wassily lounge frame is seamless tubular steel with a powder-coated, polished chrome, or 18k Gold (polished) plated finish.