The Barcelona Chair: Much more than a Beautiful Chair

What makes a chair popular or successful?. We would say that design is one essential factor. Beauty and functionality itself are part of the equation, too. But is there anything else to contribute it and make it rise to the stardom of furniture?

Sure. Awards an Prizes have a good role, too. And the Barcelona Chair may presume of the most prestigious awards in the world of furniture, just like the MoMA Award.

The MoMA Awards

The MoMA Awards are presented by the Museum of Modern Art of New York, since 1951, and they recognize influential breakthroughs in industrial design and arts achievements. The Museum of Modern Arts of New York is one of the largest and influential of the world. It has overviews in all Fine Arts, Architecture, Design and many disciplines like, photography, electronic media, films and books, among others. The greatest artist of our times are presented in the MoMA: Cezanne, Bacon, Dali, Gauguin, jut to name of few.

The MoMA 1977 Award to the Barcelona Chair

The Barcelona Chair was awarded in 1977. According to the MoMA, The Barcelona Chair "achieves the serenity of line and the refinement of proportions and materials characteristic of Mies van der Rohe's highly disciplined architecture. It is supported on each side by two chrome-plated, flat steel bars. Seen from the side, the single curve of the bar forming the chair's back and front legs crosses the S-curve of the bar forming the seat and back legs, making an intersection of the two. This simple shape derives from a long history of precedents, from ancient Egyptian folding stools to nineteenth-century neoclassical seating. The cantilevered seat and the back of the original chairs were upholstered in white kid leather with welt and button details."

That is a very remarkable distinction for a piece of furniture designed in 1928, and it states without a doubt how classic is the Barcelona Chair, a masterwork in the world of furniture.

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