Like Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright and several other prominent 20th century architects, Mies van der Rohe was not formally educated in the profession.1 Instead, he took the path of apprenticeship, working in architectural offices for a number of years and for furniture designer Bruno Paul, before opening his own practice in Berlin in 1912. Like Le Corbusier and Marcel Breuer, van der Rohe also designed furniture to be placed in the interiors of the homes and buildings he designed; these designs were later manufactured in quantity and reached a far broader market.
The architect had begun designing furniture in earnest in 1927 using chrome or nickel-plated tubular steel, with leather, woven cane or other materials for the seating surfaces. Van der Rohe designed and patented chairs and tables using this new structural medium, first manufactured by Berliner Metallgewerbe Joseph Mueller in Berlin.2
The pivotal commission that catapulted his architecture career and solidified his ability as a modern furniture designer as well, was the German Pavilion at the Barcelona Industrial Exposition in 1929. The furniture designed for German Pavilion were two regal chairs for the King and Queen of Spain to sit in if they chose to. Van der Rohe envisioned using rectangular steel bar stock formed into graceful curves as depicted in his design sketches for the chairs and ottomans. The leather-upholstered seat and back cushions were supported by leather straps underneath the seat and behind the back cushion. Van der Rohe’s attention to detail was evident throughout the design and fabrication of the chairs and ottomans to be displayed within the Pavilion.
While Van der Rohe was working on the design of the German Pavilion, he also received a residential commission in Brno, Czech Republic from Fritz Tugendhat, a textile industrialist, and his wife Grete. Villa Tugendhat shared design elements Van der Rohe was specifying for the German Pavilion, such as the chrome steel structural members and onyx walls. The architect included the Barcelona chairs in the Tugendhat floorplan, but also created new chairs specifically for his clients using steel bar stock of a different design with arms. The seat and back cushions were of a different design, but the chair employed a similar scheme of leather straps for the seat and back cushions. This would become known as the Tugendhat Chair.3
Van der Rohe, assisted by Lily Reich, was prolific with new furniture designs during 1930 and 1931 that included lounge chairs, couches, and tables. Bamberg Metallwerkstatten in Berlin manufactured nearly two dozen pieces of furniture, primarily for the residential market. The sale of this furniture provided additional income, but Van der Rohe received a more lucrative arrangement from Thonet for his designs in 1931. Thonet was a much larger furniture manufacturer and could offer Van der Rohe five percent royalty from the sale of each piece. Thonet manufactured a smaller selection of Van der Rohe’s designs, but the company focused on the most popular models.
Van der Rohe was actively involved in the German architectural and design culture of the 1930s and was last director of the Bauhaus, which was forced to close by the Nazi government. This, coupled with other events, convinced Van der Rohe to emigrate to the United States in 1938, settling in Chicago to teach at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
One of his architectural students was Florence Schust—a fortuitous friendship emerged. Schust greatly admired Van der Rohe’s architectural accomplishments and furniture designs which would manifest a decade later.
Architect Phillip Johnson introduced Hans Knoll to Mies van der Rohe in New York in 1945, and Florence was there to welcome her mentor to Knoll. Johnson wanted several of Van der Rohe’s designs manufactured for his Manhattan residence. The Knolls saw this as a means for Knoll to exclusively manufacture his furniture in the United States and specify it for contracts handled by the Planning Unit.4
“I studied with Mies and was very interested in that form of design,” Florence Knoll Bassett told Metropolis magazine. “I was responsible for convincing Mies to allow us to do his furniture. He was a silent man—very private. I told him, ‘I promise you I won’t allow any outrageous colors to be used on your furniture.’ I think that convinced him.”5
It was two years before the first Mies van der Rohe designs manufactured by Knoll were introduced in 1947, according to Carl Magnusson. A significant change was made to the Barcelona chair in manufacturing and material. The lap joints used previously were discarded for an entirely welded frame with ground and polished joints, and the plated carbon steel was replaced with stainless steel; Van der Rohe approved the changes.6
Over the subsequent years, many of the architect’s designs were introduced by Knoll. The Tugendhat chair was introduced in 1964 and featured a welded, stainless steel frame with arms (No. 254A) and without arms (No. 254), having the same leather upholstery construction as the Barcelona Chair.7, 8 Note: Knoll reintroduced the Tugendhat chair to the catalog in 2024, but the originals built in the 1960s remain quite collectible.
(Photo of Mies van der Rohe courtesy of Knoll, Inc.)
1. John Peter, The Oral History of Modern Architecture (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994), 156.
2. Vitra Design Museum, Mies van der Rohe Architecture and Design in Stuttgart, Barcelona, Brno. ”Mies’s Designs in Production at Knoll,” Carl Magnusson. 30.
3. Vitra Design Museum, 180-197.
4. Vitra Design Museum, 68.
5. Paul McKovsky, “The Soul of Knoll,” Metropolis magazine. July 2001. 97.
6. Vitra Design Museum, 68.
7. Museum of Modern Art, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Furniture and Furniture Drawings from the Design Collection and the Mies van der Rohe Archive. New York, 1971.
8. Production of the Tugendhat chairs was halted around 1980; neither the No. 254 nor the No. 254A were in the 2/81 Residential Price List.