Having just returned from 2 weeks in the Costa Brava, I’m slightly miffed that we didn’t drive to Barcelona. There was no way we would be able to walk around a city in 40 degree heat, we needed to stay by the pool and the sea!
One of the main reasons I wanted to re-visit Barcelona was to go to the (re-built) German National Pavilion originally built for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. I also wanted to see the original Barcelona chair – now a design icon originally created for the King and Queen of Spain for the exhibition.
I’ve been interested in these since my student days when we found out about all the ‘cool designers’ and key iconic pieces of design.
Many copies of this chair are still manufactured but only the German company Knoll Studio were given the exclusive manufacturing rights by Mies in 1953. These have the Knoll Studio logo and the Mies signature stamped onto the frame and retail at about £3,000 each! I’m looking around for a ‘good’ copy, so if you know of one, let me know!
–Update 30/08/2006: We have ordered two chairs and a footstool from 15 in Derby…
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