It is always a priceless pleasure to sit in a good cantilever chair: the gentle rocking gives us that feeling that reminds us of childhood. Since the preview at the Salone del Mobile 2024, we have been waiting for Knoll’s announcement of the resurrection of one of the best cantilever chairs in history: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Tugendhat Chair.
Tugendhat Chair was originally created in 1929 for the legendary The Tugendhat Villa in Brno (Czech Republic) designed and built by Mies and Lilly Reich. The Tugendhat Villa is undoubtedly one of the greatest examples of total design.
With its elegant cantilevered form, the Tugendhat™ Chair embodies the technical precision and artistic intent that permeate everything Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed. The steel frame is refined in both construction and materiality, while the thick cushions provide a high degree of comfort and cosy informality.
It is only logical that the Knoll team returned the Tugendhat chair to its place of origin to launch the campaign for its resurrection. The chair was last produced in 1979. This reissued model is painstakingly faithful to the original, although today almost every element of the design can be customised: the stainless steel finish, upholstery and leather options for the cushions and models with or without arms. Which is your favourite?
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Considered one of the most important figures in architectural history, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ‘s “less is more” approach to design was the gold standard for many generations of modern architecture. His legendary career began humbly in his father’s masonry business, which gave him an early appreciation of materials and structures. From there he went on to apprentice with furniture designer Bruno Paul in Berlin, before joining the office of Peter Behrens, an architect and painter at the forefront of the modern movement.
In 1912, Mies established his own office in Berlin. Through furniture, residential projects and extraordinary skyscraper concepts, yet to be realised, he gained recognition as a leader of the German modern movement. As such, he was selected to design the German Pavilion at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.
Mies was Vice-President of the Deutsher Werkbund and Director of the Bauhaus from 1930 until its closure in 1933. He emigrated to the United States in 1938 to become director of architecture at the Armour Institute (later Illinois Institute of Technology). From his Chicago studio, Mies designed a series of buildings that changed American institutional architecture, including the IIT campus and the Seagram Building in New York.
Source: Knoll.
Knoll
www.knoll.com
Project by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
