In a profession that goes more than half the 20th century, the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed not just buildings but furniture as well. With the help of German interior designer Lilly Reich, Mies van der Rohe designed several furnishings for use in the interiors of his architectural plans. One work that is considered by many to be his top work in modern furniture is the self-styled Barcelona chair.

The essential piece in the Barcelona furniture group, the Barcelona chair is a light steel chair created by Mies van der Rohe between 1928 and 1929. The chair was intentionally-made for the German Pavilion, a transient exposition building Mies van der Rohe designed to symbolize Germany at the 1929 Salon d’ Automne art show in Barcelona, Spain (hence its name).

A master of modern works, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair was certainly clear and unique. The chair’s cross-like frame is inspired on the ancient Egyptian folding chair and the Roman “sella curulis” courts’ chair, and made from parts of chrome-plated steel. Barcelona Chairs produced after the 1950s, but, displayed stainless steel frames as stainless steel made it possible for the frame to be created into just one piece. The cushions of the chair are finished from either natural or synthetic filling, and covered with white pigskin and black leather. And to keep them firmly in position, the cushions are attached to the chair via specially-designed press stud fixings.

After its victorious introduction at the International Exposition, the Barcelona chair was reproduced in small numbers in Europe and the US until the 1950s, when Florence Knoll obtained the rights to produce the chair from Mies van der Rohe. Now, the Knoll creator furniture company remains as a leading manufacturer of the Barcelona chair, even if reproductions from other manufacturers are also widely obtainable.

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