Designer of the Barcelona Chair

Mies Ludwig van der Rohe 1886 - 1969

Mies Van der Rohe was a contemporary of Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius (the founder of the Bauhaus School), Mies is one of the original instigators of the Modernist Movement.

In the early 20th century modernism and minimalism were coming together in the work of Mies and his peers, while being actively promoted by the Bauhaus, the Deutsche Werkbund, and an organization called the 'Novembergruppe' (of which he was also a member).

1899 to 1903 Mies began his career at only 13 years of age - as a draughtsman in the Aachen stucco decoration workshop. Then from 1904 to 1907 he was an apprentice in the workshop of furniture designer Bruno Paul, while also studying at the school of Arts and Crafts in Munich.

From 1908 - 1911 he, like Le Corbusier and Gropius worked in the architectural offices of Peter Behrens. Leaving Behren's office he started his own architectural practice at only 25.

A few years later, as the First World War came to a close Mies' style was beginning to crystallize. His enthusiasm for Avant Gard ideas was reflected in his associations with the Novembergruppe - and his architectural designs were already showing a fondness for glass skyscrapers.

But it was only in the mid twenties, when he met and formed a personal and professional partnership with Lilly Reich the interior designer, (later to become the director of the Deutsche Werkbund), that he began to design laminated wood furniture, out of his own Berlin Apartment - registering a patent in 1927 for a tubular steel cantilever chair based on that of Mart Stam. The MR chair or 'M20 Chair' as it was called has been described as "a sophisticated and elegant aesthetic response to the earlier, slightly more prosaic uses of the cantilever in contemporary furniture." (Oxford Dictionary of Modern Design pg282). The chair was manufacturer by the Joseph Muller Metal Company, and just like his later designs it required a great deal of handcrafting, and was very expensive to make.

It was this chair that made Mies famous at first, catapulting him into the international limelight. Establishing and cementing his philosophy of 'Refined Comfort', the 'M20', has a simple curved frame with a cane seat - affording sufficient 'give' in the back to almost psychologically mimic the imagined comfort of an old fashioned armchair. Compact, light weight and yet elegant its space saving comfort was immediately a worldwide success.

The famous 'Barcelona X Chair' chair followed in 1929, a design created together with Lilly Reich for the his German Pavilion at the Barcelona International Exhibition. The Barcelona Chair design is said to be derived from his interpretation of an Egyptian royal folding chair and a Roman folding footstool, it came to define the genre, an icon for the era and perhaps the whole modern movement.

His career continued and blossomed first as the director of the Bauhaus school in Berlin 1930-1933 where he produced further innovative design successes - including his cantilevered design of the 'Brno' and the 'Tugendhat' chairs.

In 1931 manufacture of Mies' furniture including the Barcelona Chair was taken over by the Bamberg Metal workshops in Berlin , although there was a marked move away from what had been essentially a craft based mode of production when the production of the production of the cantilever chair was taken over by Thonet in 1932.

Then in the late 1930s as the 2nd world war approached Mies, like many of the Bauhaus teachers, had the foresight to relocate to the US, where he developed a world renowned architectural practice, producing some of his seminal works. Among them the Farnsworth House 1945-1950), the Lake Shore Drive Apartments in Chicago 1951 - 1958. He produced no more furniture after leaving Germany, (and Lilly Reich), although he did redesign the Barcelona Chair of the 1950s to take advantage of new manufacturing techniques and the invention of stainless steel. In 1948 license to produce the Barcelona Chair and a number of his other furniture designs were purchased by the wife of Hans Knoll, (Florence Knoll), whom Mies and Breuer had met while she was working for Gropius. In the 1960s Florence retired from Knoll, but the company continues to produce the Barcelona Chair to this day, together with a matching range of furniture not designed by Mies including the Barcelona Ottoman, Barcelona Daybed, Barcelona Benches two and three seat, Barcelona Sofas, Barcelona Coffee Table, and Barcelona Side Table.

Source :- http://www.barcelonachair.com/Mies.php