Modern Hindsight: Mies Van der Rohe and the BRNO Chair

If you browse my inventory page, you will see I am offering four vintage Knoll International Brno chairs for sale. A modern classic, the Brno chair is elegant and utilitarian. I love this design. And to be honest, they look phenomenal with my red steel kitchen table. Hmm....do I really want to sell them?

It's worth taking a look at its history and a few of images of the chair in its natural environment: a modern home or office place.

Knoll Productions Brno chairs have become a modern furniture classic. They have very clean lines, consisting of a steel frame in a single piece, bent into a C-shape from the middle of the back, round past the front edge of seat (to create arms), and back under the seat to create a cantilever, with taut seat and back upholstered in leather. There are two versions of these chairs, one in tubular steel and the other in flat steel. The metal was originally polished stainless steel; some modern examples are chrome plated.

Designed in 1930 for the Tugendhat House* in Brno, Czechoslovakia, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Brno chair mirrors the groundbreaking simplicity of its original environment. The design is a modernist cantilever design favored by the Bauhaus.

I think this may be the most versatile chair ever. I hope you are inspired to bring a timeless piece into your own home.