One of the confined furniture arrangements for the German Pavilion, the Barcelona Chair was Germany’s official entry to the Ibero-American Expo of 1929 held in the city of Barcelona, Spain. The design of the chair was crafted by the popular Bahaus designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in alliance with his longtime partner Liliy Reich, who was also a designer and an architect. A highly popular design during its time, the chair is assessed as one of the most evident icons of the modernism movement.
According to its designers, the Barcelona Chair was influenced by the campaign and folding chairs of the classical period. The chair has also exposed inspiration from the works of the most acknowledged sculptor George Kolbe. Because of its change of regal design into a modern setting, the chair and its designers directly garnered adulation of critics during the Ibero-American Expo, calling the chair “a design worthy of kings”. Also, the chair was produced with the Bahaus idea in mind, combining the concept of creating well-designed furnishings and residences for the common man. However, given the chair’s overwhelming price of $6,281 at that time, it seemed contrary to this sentiment.
The frame of the Barcelona Chair was initially designed to be bolted together but was later fixed during the 1950s to incorporate stainless steel, granting the frame to be assembled using a complete piece of metal. This gave the chair a shiny appearance as well as the extra bonus of being corrosion-resistant due to the stainless steel’s properties. The chair’s upholstery was also originally made of ivory colored pigskin, but was later restored by bovine leather.
The Barcelona Chair was originally built in definite stock within the United States and among European countries during 1930s and late 1950s. Then in 1953, six years after the death of Lilly Reich, Miers van der Rohe submit his rights and his name on the design.
The Barcelona Chair’s operative design and related elements were acquired by Mies van der Rohe in Spain. Germany and the United States of America during the 1930s, but it has long since discontinued. This led to the explosion of Barcelona Chair designs being manufactured worldwide to keep up with the bid of collectors and modernist aficionados alike.
Today, the Barcelona Chair is generally built in two distinct types of steel: chrome and stainless. The chairs are almost completely done by hand, with assured machining exclusions on several parts of the body.
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