Knoll

Barcelona® Bauhaus 100th Anniversary – Limited Edition

Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1929-1931

To celebrate the anniversary of the Bauhaus, where Mies van der Rohe was the director from 1930 until the closing of the school in 1933, Knoll focuses on the iconic Barcelona® Chair designed by Mies himself, presenting a limited-edition version. Only 365 pieces will be produced in 2019, one for every day of the year, certified and numbered to commemorate the centennial of the Bauhaus and the close connection between Knoll and the foundations of its outstanding design.

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Barcelona® Bauhaus 100th Anniversary – Limited Edition
  • Barcelona® Bauhaus 100th Anniversary – Limited Edition

Details

FEATURES

One of the most recognised objects of the last century, and an icon of the modern movement, the Barcelona Chair is a tribute to the marriage of design and craftsmanship.

 

CONSTRUCTION

Structure: in black chrome flat spring steel, handground and polished to a mirror finish. Cushion support straps in thick cowhide, attached with aluminium rivets.

Straps: in the same shade as the Bauhaus leather, the straps have sides and edges dyed to match.

Upholstery: 40 individual panels for the chair and 16 for the stool are all hand-cut, stitched and tufted with buttons, and are produced from a single cowhide. The cushions are in fire-retardant variable density foam covered in polyester fibre for greater comfort and upholstered exclusively in premium quality leather.
 
Note: Only 365 examples of the Barcelona Limited Edition armchair have been produced, all with a serial number and special stamp on the structure to mark the 100th anniversary of Bauhaus. The Armchair is provided with a certificate of authenticity.

 

FINISHES

The collection is available with Bauhaus Leather in three different colours: Black, Ivory and Green.

 

AWARDS

Museum of Modern Art Award, 1977

Dimensions

 
BARCELONA CHAIR

75cm W x 77cm D x 77cm H with seat height of 43cm.


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Product Story image

As a rising figure of the modernist movement, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was selected to design the Weimar Republic’s Pavilion for the Barcelona Industrial Exposition of 1929.

Through masterful proportioning and planning, Mies created a rhythmic and entirely unprecedented space, which elevated industrial-age materials to a level of grace never before achieved. Inside, Mies included chairs and stools conceived as a resting place for the King and Queen of Spain. Determined to create a chair worthy of royalty, Mies is thought to have based the designs, with their signature criss-cross frames, on the campaign chairs of Ancient Rome. Mies: “I feel that it must be possible to harmonise the old and new in our civilisation.”

Although the Barcelona Pavilion only stood for seven months, it is recognised as a defining achievement of modern architecture, as are the accompanying Barcelona Chairs (although the King and Queen reportedly never sat in them).

Mies, a close friend and mentor to Florence Knoll during her time at the Illinois Institute of Technology, formally granted Knoll the production rights to the Barcelona Chair and Stool in 1953. The designs immediately became a signature of the Knoll brand and have been built to Mies van der Rohe’s exacting standards ever since.

Discover the story of the Barcelona Chair

Designer image

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe began his career working in his father's stonemasonry business. After an apprenticeship with furniture designer Bruno Paul in Berlin, he joined the office of architect Peter Behrens, whose work presaged the modern movement. In 1912, Mies established his own office in Berlin, and later became a member of the Deutscher Werkbund and Director of the Bauhaus.

He immigrated to the United States in 1938, setting up a practice in Chicago. His buildings include the German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona Exposition, the Tugendhat Villa in Brno, Czechoslovakia, the Seagram Building, designed with Philip Johnson, a cluster of residential towers along Chicago's Lakeshore Drive in Chicago, and the Illinois Institute of Technology campus, where he was the director of architecture.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 - 1969) Birthplace Germany