Ode to the Barcelona Chair (7 comments)

The Barcelona Chair. It's a favorite of modernist designers and just about anybody who gets Dwell magazine. Simple, comfortable, neutral - it's a fantastic piece of furniture that deserves its iconic status.

Now known as one of the leading architects of the modern movement, Ludwig Mies Van de Rohe launched his career in the company of Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. During the 1920's, his signature-style emerged. Most notably, the first of his skyscrapers - tall, glass, unrelentingly minimal glass boxes - were built.

In 1929, when the World Arts Fair took place in Barcelona, Spain, the German government commissioned Mies to design the German Pavilion. Once he had designed the shell of the building, Mies' attention turned to furnishings. It was then that the Barcelona chair was born.

In 1930, after designing the chair, Mies spoke of the difficulty of the process, saying, “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.”

Ultimately, the chairs were the only furniture in the pavilion (just as they're nearly alone in the lobbies of Mies skyscrapers today).

Immediately after the fair, the chair became a commercial success. Mies redesigned the chair in 1950, bringing it up to date by incorporating stainless steel.

It's been over 80 years since its design, but the structure and look of the Barcelona chair still feel completely current - even without the Jetsons-style "futuristic" vibe that so much mid-century furniture shares.

The reality is that the Barcelona chair (and ottoman) look most at home in minimal, modern interiors - they're not the perfect bench for a countrified log cabin or an antiques-laden drawing room. They're minimal, they're sleek, and they're unapologetic.

And they're gorgeous.

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