Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Widely regarded as the “father of modern architecture,” Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was an original thinker, a passionate worker and not only designed impressive and groundbreaking structures, but also dabbled in interiors and furniture.
A German-American, Mies came to prominence during the first half of the 20th century and brought clarity and simplicity to the world of building design. Utilizing industrial steel and plate glass to define starkly elegant spaces, like the National Gallery in Berlin, Mies kicked off a rapid transformation in the architectural world that is admired and emulated to this day. He also designed modern furniture pieces like the Barcelona and Brno chairs. His furniture pieces particularly exemplify his flair for interiors and his ability to use delicate frames and cantilevers to produce exquisite and functional pieces.
Mies once said, “I don’t want to be interesting, I want to be good.” We at Styleture have no doubt that he was both.
National Gallery in Berlin (Photo by K.lee, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)
Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois (Photo by © Jeremy Atherton, 2006, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license)
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. (Photo by David Monack, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license)
Barcelona chair and Ottoman (Photo licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License)
“The chair is a very difficult object. Everyone who has ever tried to make one knows that. There are endless possibilities and many problems – the chair has to be light, it has to be strong, it has to be comfortable. It is almost easier to build a sky scraper than a chair.” – Mies 1930
