The Barcelona Chair- By Mies Van de Rohe
The Barcelona Chair story all started with a man called Ludwig Mies Van de Rohe in 1929. Mies, a man of German origin, was born in 1886 and became one of the leading modernist architects of his time. Mies served for a short time in the 1930s as the director of the world-renowned school of design in Germany, the Bauhaus. Like many architects he understood the importance of using the correct furniture to complement the purpose of the building if there was to be harmony in design. Thus Mies’s work in architecture effectively led him into furniture design.
In 1929 Barcelona was host to the World Arts Fair, and the German government commissioned Mies to design the German Pavilion at Montjuic as part of the exposition.However once he had created the building his mind turned to designing the furniture that would be used in it.
The chair that he designed for the Pavilion is said to have been inspired by both the folding chairs of the Pharaohs and the X shaped footstools of the Romans.Although the chairs may conceptually have been intended to be thrones for the visiting royals, the general consensus is that they did not actually sit in them. However the Barcelona chair, sometimes referred to as the Pavilion chair, quickly gained a reputation as a design worthy of kings.
“The chair is a very difficult object. Everyone who has ever tried to make one knows that. There are endless possibilities and many problems - the chair has to be light, it has to be strong, it has to be comfortable. It is almost easier to build a sky scraper than a chair.” - Mies 1930
The fact that the Barcelona Chair is difficult and expensive to produce accounts for the chair’s price which can range from about $600 to over $3000.
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