Product sheet Krefeld™ Collection

Architonic-ID: 1003979

Designer:
Mies van der Rohe
Year:
1927

Knoll International Spa, Krefeld™ Collection

Based on Mies' original drawings of a club chair, Knoll, Inc., in collaboration with The Museum of Modern Art's Mies Archives, is producing a lounge chair, settee, sofa, ottoman, 53"and 77" benches and square wood side table.

Originally intended for the Lange and Esters houses in Krefeld, Germany in 1927, the chair was designed to complement the warm brick exteriors of the residences. "That this collection is, at last, going to be available to the public, celebrates Knoll's ongoing commitment to produce timeless, enduring designs," says Knoll senior vice president, director of design, Carl G. Magnusson. "It is also a testament to the renewed interest in and awareness of Mies' early work before coming to this country, as evidenced by the spectacular Mies in Berlin retrospective at MoMA in 2001. It is a significant design that deserves to be realized."

With classic detailing, clean lines and exceptional comfort, the Krefeld lounge pieces are available in a wide range of Spinneybeck leathers and textiles. The solid oak lounge legs and graceful wood table can be finished in a variety of wood veneers, providing elegant accents.

The Krefeld collection is so different from the "industrial" materials Mies employed in his Barcelona and MR collections (which, along with Krefeld, are manufactured exclusively by Knoll), yet they were conceived within only a few years of each other. Director of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, and curator of Mies in Berlin as well as acclaimed author, Terence Riley explains that throughout his career, Mies not only produced radical new designs but also retained a fondness for traditional furniture types. "Even his Barcelona chair has clear historical precedents," says Riley. "This is particularly evident in his sketches for interiors of the Chicago Arts Club, which included his tubular steel furniture as well as more traditional pieces… The Krefeld chair, specified as a leather-upholstered armchair with a wide splaying seat, clearly reflects the domestic comforts that Mies valued.

"The Barcelona chair is clearly a more formal piece of furniture," Riley continues, "reflecting its purpose as a ceremonial seat. Even in his residential projects, the more industrial designs were often placed in formal, symmetrical settings. However, when he sketched furniture placements for the Esters, Lange, Tugendhat and Wolf Houses, the Krefeld club chair was often placed off to a side on its own, in a less formal position. I feel that this indicates that Mies thought of the Krefeld chair as perhaps a reading chair, a more comfortable piece of furniture for longer periods of use — reading, thinking, resting."