Mies Van der Rohe, Barcelona Daybed for Knoll

LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE (Germany, 1886 – U.S., 1969) for KNOLL.
“Barcelona” Daybed, designed in 1929 (Barcelona World’s Fair).
Polished stainless steel and leather upholstery.
Frame made of African ramin wood.
Cushion upholstered in brown leather, stitched with buttons and chains.
Includes a matching neck pillow.
Certified by Knoll International.
Reproduced and reviewed in "Charlotte & Peter Fiell. 1000 Chairs," p. 133.
Original packaging. New, never used.
Measurements: 41 x 195 x 95 cm; 26 x 226 x 103 cm (packaging).

The Barcelona daybed is a classic work of 20th-century industrial design. Mies van der Rohe created it, along with the matching chair and side table, for the German Pavilion at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition—a building that was itself a landmark in the architecture of the last century. Like the chairs, the ottoman features a polished stainless steel frame and leather upholstery. Rohe based his design—in keeping with his personal style of modern classicism—on furniture used by Roman magistrates in antiquity. Today, the Barcelona chair, the ottoman, and the matching side table continue to be produced by Knoll, the company that purchased the license from the architect in 1953. The modern models are manufactured in two different steel configurations and in various types of leather in different colors. Examples of the Barcelona Chair are currently preserved in major collections around the world, such as that of the MoMA in New York.

An architect and industrial designer, Mies van der Rohe trained under Bruno Paul and Meter Behrens, and opened his own studio in Berlin in 1912. Between 1930 and 1933, he directed the Bauhaus in Dessau, although the political situation in Germany soon forced him to emigrate to the United States. There, he continued his brilliant career while also teaching at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Throughout his career, he designed iconic buildings primarily in Germany and the United States, most notably his skyscrapers in New York and Chicago, the German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, and the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.