Barcelona Chair: telling the Knoll edition from the replicas
Designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1929, made by Knoll. Frame, tufting, straps: the details that separate the edition from £600 replicas.
1 MIN · 2 OBJECTS IDENTIFIEDDesigned by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich for the German Pavilion at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, the Barcelona chair has been produced by Knoll since 1953. At £7,000-9,000 apiece, it feeds a market of replicas ten times cheaper.
The frame, first
The current Knoll edition uses a mirror-polished stainless steel frame, formed from a single welded then ground piece: no visible screw at the crossing. Replicas often bolt together two chromed bars, and the pitted chrome soon betrays the ordinary steel beneath.
The tufting
Forty leather panels cut from the same hide, hand-stitched, buttons taken from the mass. Copies plump up the cushions, space out the tufts, and the corrected leather shines with a plastic gloss. The edition's suspension straps are saddle leather, not canvas.
Signatures and labels
Since the 1960s, Knoll has engraved Mies's signature and numbered the frames. Label under the seat, stamp on the frame: their absence is no proof on an older vintage piece, their presence is.
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Where to find Knoll
At the house itself, or at the retailer that stocks it.
Gallery
4 images
