Barcelona chair

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, with Lilly Reich, 1929. Made by Knoll Made for the German Pavilion at the 1929 International Exhibition in Barcelona, it became the default seat for formal lobbies for decades after. The steel frame forms an X on each side, with leather cushions buttoned in a grid laid over straps. Look for the crossed legs in side view and the tufted squares on seat and back. Mies granted Knoll the production rights to the Barcelona Collection, so Knoll's version is the authorized one. His collaborator Lilly Reich played a major role in the pavilion's furniture, long credited to Mies alone, and is now widely named as the chair's co-designer.