I know I’ve written about the Barcelona chair before but considering it’s status and recent offers from various retailers I think it’s worth another mention.

As most people know, the Barcelona chair was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for his Pavilion at the International exhibition in Barcelona Spain. The chair was designed as seating for the King ans Queen while the stool was to serve as seating for the attendants.

For decades the Barcelona chair has been well out of reach of ordinary people and difficult to find/order even for those who had the money, but that has all changed. Today more than ever the Barcelona chair is attainable, still pricey but well worth the money.

Reproductions can be had for under $1000 USD but they will no doubt leave you disappointed and angry… and when you factor in buying/shipping and looking at a cheap Chinese knockoff, hardly worth the money. However, a REAL Barcelona chair will cost a bit more up front but you will be rewarded with the beauty, quality, comfort and value of an original.

It’s never been easier or more affordable to own this design classic. Knoll, the license holder and manufacturer of Van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair makes this classic available through a wide network of distributors.

DWR is one of the more reputable online retailers of fine design classics and a great place to start furniture shopping.

The Barcelona chair is available in a variety of colors and leather grades to suit your taste, décor and budget.

The BRNO chair is another of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s masterpieces. Originally designed in 1929-1930 for the bedroom of the Tugendhat house in Brno, Czechoslovakia, the BRNO chair’s design has stood the test of time.

Constructed of flat steel bar (there is a round tube version as well), bent into shape and chrome plated (or polished stainless steel), the BRNO chair is of the highest quality. This has no doubt contributed to it’s success and staying power. Like Van der Rohe’s other works, it’s the quality and not only the style that gives it that extra something and makes it into a true work of art.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies) (March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969) was an architect and designer. Born in Aachen, Germany, he worked in the family stone-carving business before he joined the office of Bruno Paul in Berlin. He entered the studio of Peter Behrens in 1908 and remained until 1912.

Under Behrens’ influence, Mies developed a design approach based on advanced structural techniques and Prussian Classicism. He also developed a sympathy for the aesthetic credos of both Russian Constructivism and the Dutch De Stijl group. He borrowed from the post and lintel construction of Karl Friedrich Schinkel for his designs in steel and glass.

Mies worked with the magazine G which started in July 1923. He made major contributions to the architectural philosophies of the late 1920s and 1930s as artistic director of the Werkbund-sponsored Weissenhof project and as Director of the Bauhaus. During this period he designed some seminal buildings, including the Barcelona Pavilion and the elegant Villa Tugendhat in Brno, Czech Republic, now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

However he fled reluctantly in the late 1930s as he saw the Nazis growing in power. When he arrived in the United States in 1937, he was already a somewhat influential designer. He had been the director of the Bauhaus design school for several years and had won the commission for several architectural projects.

Famous for his dictums ‘Less is More’ and ‘God is in the details’, Mies attempted to create contemplative, neutral spaces through an architecture based on material honesty and structural integrity. Over the last twenty years of his life, Mies achieved his vision of a monumental ’skin and bone’ architecture. His later works provide a fitting denouement to a life dedicated to the idea of a universal, simplified architecture.

Mies settled in Chicago where he was appointed as head of the architecture school at Chicago’s Armour Institute of Technology (later renamed Illinois Institute of Technology – IIT). His one condition on taking this position was that he would be able to redesign the campus. Some of his most famous buildings still stand there, including Crown Hall, the home of IIT’s School of Architecture.

In 1944, he became a naturalized citizen. From 1946 to 1950 Mies van der Rohe built the Farnsworth House for Dr. Edith Farnsworth, a doctor in Chicago. It was the first home Mies built in the United States. The house is rectangular with eight steel columns set in two parallel rows. Suspended between columns are two concrete slabs (one the floor, the other the roof) and a simple, glass-enclosed living space and porch. All the exterior walls are glass, and the interior is entirely open except for a wood paneled area containing two bathrooms, a kitchen and service facilities. Besides the glass, the building is bright white. (The Farnsworth House is sometimes confused with Philip Johnson’s Glass House.)

In 1958 Mies van der Rohe built what has been regarded as the ultimate expression of the International Style of architecture, the Seagram Building in New York. Mies was chosen by the daughter of the client, Phyllis Bronfman Lambert, who has become an architectural figure in her own right. The Seagram Building is a large glass work, but controversially, the architect chose to set the structure back, include a massive plaza and fountain, and create an open space in Park Avenue. Mies had to argue with the Bronfman’s bankers about exploiting all of the plat. More controversially Mies included external I-beams that were not structurally necessary but that ‘expressed’ the structure, touching off a conversation about whether Mies had or had not committed the crime of ornamentation. Philip Johnson had a role in designing the plaza and the Four Seasons restaurant. The Seagrams Building is said to also be the first major ‘fast-track’ construction process, when design and construction are done concurrently.

Mies designed and built many modern high-rises in Chicago’s downtown and elsewhere. Some of his credits include the Federal Building (1959), the IBM Building (1966) and 860-880 Lake Shore Drive (1948-52), the first building to use an all glass and steel curtain wall in its construction, the hallmark of the modern skyscraper. (Ironically, Mies himself lived in a pre-World War II building during his whole residence in Chicago.) Two last major projects were the Toronto-Dominion Centre in 1967 in Toronto, Ontario, the first of the bank skyscrapers to be built in that city, and the Neue Nationalgalerie art museum in Berlin.

Click Here to see the original Wikipedia article…

The Barcelona Chair was designed by Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe for the German Pavilion exhibit in Barcelona

The Barcelona Chair was designed to be used as a throne for the king and queen of Spain while visiting the German Pavilion exhibit.

… it was an instant success. Amongst others, the Barcelona Chair (also Barcelona stool, table, daybed, etc.) is an example of Van Der Rohe’s design genius.

Originally constructed of high quality Leather and Chromed steel, many of today’s reproductions use stainless steel instead of chrome. In my opinion, nothing can match the finish of a high quality chromed steel; the shine, smooth finish and seamless look are fantastic!

This is one of my personal favourites, I simply love the clean and simple lines of the Barcelona Chairs and the entire collection from the German Pavilion… simple, elegant and unmatched quality make this article a must have for all Bauhaus lovers.