Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1905 he produced his first designs for skyscrapers made out of steel and glass. Although he worked on architecture he changed to product design mostly furniture, in the 1920s with the Cantilever chair. The idea of using tubular steel inspired him from Marcel Breuer from his famous product the Wassily chair. He used the same techniques of Breuer in a lot of his furniture, whether it is tubular or flat steel, he produced a lot of products this way. In my opinion shiny stainless steel makes the products stands out more. Although Mies Van Der Rohe is usually associated with the Bauhaus, he had already developed his own style before entering the school. He was also know during the stay of his school period, one of the grand masters of the International Style. One need to be very good for a student before entering and during this stay knew his style and his pathway.

One of his products that is amazing is the MR 10 Armchair made in 1927. This chair is very similar to the Wassily Chair by Breuer he also followed him and made the chair in tubular steel all over in two pieces. One that hold the back and the legs and the other steel tube that is used for the arms. It is well designed. The two tubes are not welded together they are connected with a piece of metal joint. Then it is covered in leather back and seat and it is connected by a lace in the bottom making it loose for washable or change by wear and tear. In my opinion it has a great source of structure and well finished.

Mr 10 Armchair

A similar chair is the Brno cantilevered armchair it is made mainly by steel but this time instead of tubular is flat all over and welded carefully and neatly. It has that similar flowing structure the same of Wassily and the MR 10. This time he use wooden structure for the seat and back in one go and not separated from each other. This time he used foam and for better comfort. I would prefer this chair then the other it even looks more cleaner and a better proportional.

Brno Cantilevered Armchair

Reference:

Bernard Polster, Claudia Neumann, Markus Schuler  and Fredrick Leven, 2004. The AZ of Modern design