30s Mies van der Rohe ‘barcelona’ chair for Knoll

This chair (model 250L) was designed by Mies van der Rohe together with interior designer Lilly Reich for the German pavilion of the 1929 World Fair in Barcelona. This chair was also available with a ottoman, in the same design and materials as the chair itself. The chair clearly bears the designer’s hallmark: honest, functional, elegant and without frills; his adage of “less is more”. He drew inspiration for the typical cross frame from folding chairs from ancient Rome. A lot of manual work is involved in the production. The elegant chrome frame is polished by hand. The 40 individual panels for the chair are cut by hand on a template and sewn with leather and buttons from a single cow skin. The world exhibition showed two sets, both in white goatskin at the time. Later of course various colors are available.

Later this luxurious radiating chair found its place aswell in officebuildings as in very luxury homes. Official production has been under license from Knoll International since 1948. The Kortrijk company De Coene obtained the license for the Benelux in 1952 to produce the chair for Knoll. The leather handbag manufacturer Delvaux manufactured the handmade cushions. The chair is quite expensive to build, because it involves also many hours of manual work.