Knoll Barcelona Couch Daybed Leather Mies Van Der Rohe Signed, circa 1996
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Knoll Barcelona Couch Daybed Leather Mies Van Der Rohe Signed, circa 1996
About the Item
- Creator:Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (Designer),Florence Knoll (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 25 in (63.5 cm)Width: 78 in (198.12 cm)Depth: 39 in (99.06 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:1990-1999
- Date of Manufacture:1990s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Longdon, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1832314978022
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Architect, furniture designer and educator, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a central figure in the advancement and promotion of modernist design and architectural theory and practice. Like Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier, he was a hugely influential presence in the field, who shaped the course of 20th-century architecture both through his buildings and his teaching of rationalist design principles.
Born in the medieval German city of Aachen, Mies found an interest in architecture as a boy while working for his father, a master stonemason. He had no formal education as an architect, but learned his skills as an apprentice to the designer Bruno Paul, and as a staffer in the office the proto-modernist architect and designer Peter Behrens. Following World War I, Mies rose to prominence in his field amid the liberal atmosphere of the Weimar Republic. His reputation was secured by his work on the German Pavilion at the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona (commonly referred to as the Barcelona Pavilion) — which Mies codesigned with Lilly Reich, his creative and romantic partner — a radically simple, poetic, open-plan building pared down to its architectural essentials. Mies would go on to direct the Bauhaus from 1930 until 1933, when Nazi-government interference forced the closure of the progressive art and design school. Later that decade, he made his way to Chicago, where he remained for the rest of his career as a practicing architect and a dean of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Mies’s famed dictum “less is more” grew from his belief that architecture both guides and expresses the spirit of the times, and he envisioned the 20th century as open-minded, logical, transparent and liberated by technology. His best-known buildings — residences such as the Villa Tugendhat in Czechoslovakia and the Farnsworth House in rural Illinois; skyscrapers like the 860–880 Lake Shore Drive apartment towers in Chicago and the Seagram Building in New York — reflect that philosophy. As do the most famous furniture designs authored by him or codesigned with Reich.
Pieces designed by Mies and Reich such as the Barcelona chair (the authorized version is produced by Knoll today), stools and daybed, or the cantilevered Brno chairs, deliver a maximum of comfort and support from a minimum of materials: their “lavishness” derives from the precision with which they are engineered and constructed. For the collector, the allure of Mies’s furniture is at once practical and idealistic. Useful and functional, his works embody the highest aspirations of modernism.
Find vintage Mies van der Rohe chairs, tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
Florence Knoll
Architect, furniture designer, interior designer, entrepreneur — Florence Knoll had a subtle but profound influence on the course of mid-century American modernism. Dedicated to functionality and organization, and never flamboyant, Knoll shaped the ethos of the postwar business world with her polished, efficient design and skillfully realized office plans.
Knoll had perhaps the most thorough design education of any of her peers. Florence Schust was orphaned at age 12, and her guardian sent her to Kingswood, a girl’s boarding school that is part of the Cranbrook Educational Community in suburban Detroit. Her interest in design brought her to the attention of Eliel Saarinen, the Finnish architect and head of the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Saarinen and his wife took the talented child under their wing, and she became close to their son, the future architect Eero Saarinen. While a student at the academy, Florence befriended artist-designer Harry Bertoia and Charles and Ray Eames. Later, she studied under three of the Bauhaus masters who emigrated to the United States. She worked as an apprentice in the Boston architectural offices of Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer; Ludwig Mies van der Rohe taught her at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
In 1941, she met Hans Knoll, whose eponymous furniture company was just getting off the ground. They married in 1946, and her design sense and his business skills soon made Knoll Inc. a leading firm in its field. Florence signed up the younger Saarinen as a designer, and would develop pieces by Bertoia, Mies and the artist Isamu Noguchi. Her main work came as head of the Knoll Planning Group, designing custom office interiors for clients such as IBM and CBS. The furniture Florence created for these spaces reflects her Bauhaus training: the pieces are pure functional design, exactingly built; their only ornament from the materials, such as wood and marble. Her innovations — the oval conference table, for example, conceived as a way to ensure clear sightlines among all seated at a meeting — were always in the service of practicality.
Since her retirement in 1965, Knoll received the National Medal of Arts, among other awards; in 2004 the Philadelphia Museum of Art mounted the exhibition “Florence Knoll: Defining Modern” — well deserved accolades for a strong, successful design and business pioneer. As demonstrated on these pages, the simplicity of Knoll’s furniture is her work’s great virtue: they fit into any interior design scheme.
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- Barcelona Daybed by Mies Van Der Rohe for Knoll International, 1960s, SignedBy Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, KnollLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis iconic and authentic (both the leather cushion and the Mahogany frame is signed with Knoll International labels) daybed is the 'Barcelona Daybed' also referred to as the 'Barcelona Couch' by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Knoll International and is considered an 'early original production collectors example' as it is from Knoll's earlier years of producing this design in the 1960s and 1970s before they changed to different manufacturing processes during the 1980s. This example is signed with a Knoll International label that has the 320 Park Ave address and is dated on the back of the label July 9, 1975. To determine the estimated production year we note that the date most likely corresponds to the retailer or possibly the Knoll sold/ ship date. The address of 320 Park Ave changed to Fifth Ave in 1970 and Knoll Associates did not become Knoll International until 1968. Therefore we would pinpoint the production year to be between 1968 and 1970. It is possible that it was slightly after 1970 that this example was produced as it is believed that Knoll continued to use labels with the older 320 Park Ave for several months to a couple years after changing addresses, however generally speaking 1970s examples will be labelled with their Fifth Ave address. All construction details also indicate a 1st-Generation 'original' production by Knoll as their production did not change throughout the Knoll Associates years and through the first half of the Knoll International years. This rare original 1st-Generation 'Barcelona Daybed' features its original brown leather upholstery with subtle patina and wear throughout. These traces of age and use bring more vibrancy to the leather, giving this piece an on-trend lightly distressed look. The original bolster pillow in matching brown leather is secured to the cushion and platform via straps and lock snaps. The platform is crafted from stained Mahogany and supported by polished tubular stainless steel legs and the original leather straps are all in-tact. Both the cushion is labelled and the platform frame as well with a partial Knoll International sticker label as can be seen in the photo gallery. Considered to be the epitome of modern design, Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich originally designed the Barcelona chair in 1929 to serve as seating for the king and queen of Spain in the German Pavilion. This was Germany's entry for the International Exhibition, hosted by Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed in 1930 the Barcelona daybed (also referred to as the Barcelona Couch) emanates this seminal design, paralleling the same simplicity and elegance of the iconic Barcelona chair. This Barcelona couch by Mies van der Rohe for Knoll International is ideal for a living room, family room, study, den or lounge. It would also be an Apt choice in a corporate, retail or hospitality location such as a boutique hotel lobby, cocktail bar, members club, workspace studio, executive office or in a retail boutique...Category
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