Chairs made of tubular steel without rear legs, a novelty in furniture design, were first presented at the exhibition Die Wohnung (The House) in Stuttgart in 1927. Marcel van Grunsven and Gerty Janssen were given this pair when they married in 1930. As mayor of Heerlen, Van Grunsven wanted to transform the former village in the southern province of the Netherlands into a modern ‘metropolis of the Limburg mining area.’ His civic ambitions were even reflected in his own house.