Knoll Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe - Four Seasons Stool

In the mid-1950s the Bronfman family, owners of the Joseph E. Seagram and Sons Corporation, decided to commemorate the company’s centennial by building a modern office tower on Park Avenue in New York. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was selected as architect for the Seagram Building and Philip Johnson was named as his cooperating local partner.

Johnson’s most memorable contribution to the project was the design of the interiors of The Four Seasons restaurant on the ground floor of the building. Johnson, a disciple of Mies, faithfully specified the modern master’s furniture throughout the interior. A Barcelona table and chairs were used in the lobby, and the flat-bar Brno chair was developed for use in the two large dining rooms.

In the bar room, Johnson specified a stool of Miesian style and proportion. No prior drawings by Mies exist for this design and it is thought that it was most likely a collaborative effort by Johnson and Mies. The restaurant opened in November of 1959. In 2004, Carl Magnusson developed the stool for production in Italy; it was introduced in 2006.

Created for the Four Seasons Restaurant at the Seagram Building in New York, this design is believed to be a collaborative effort between Mies van der Rohe, who designed the building, and Phillip Johnson, who designed the restaurant. The cantilevered chrome frame, lean profile and meticulous craftsmanship complement van der Rohe’s Flat Bar Brno Chair, which was specified throughout the restaurant. In 2006 Knoll brought the design into mass production for the first time ever.

MEASUREMENTS:

• Height: 76.2 cm / 30 inch
• Width: 43.1 cm / 17 inch
• Depth: 43.1 cm / 17 inch

MATERIALS:

• Frame: Bent steel frame with chrome plating or Antiqued Bronze plating in satin finish
• Seat upholstered over a foam cushion reinforced with a plywood form

HELPFUL NOTES:

• Stitching detail is found on the rear left hand corner of the stool
• Available in bar height only
• The KnollStudio logo and signature of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe are stamped into each piece
• Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certified®

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Germany, 1886 - 1969

Mies van der Rohe began his career in architecture in Berlin, working as an architect first in the studio of Bruno Paul and then, like Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius, for Peter Behrens. In 1928, Mies and his companion and colleague, the designer and Bauhaus alumna Lilly Reich, were asked to design the German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona. The purpose of the Pavilion was to provide a location that could be visited by the king and queen of Spain during the opening of the Exposition. With that in mind, Mies designed a modern throne – known today as the Barcelona Chair – for their majesties. In the following year, Mies designed another notable chair, the Brno, with a gravity-defying cantilevered base.

In 1930, Mies succeeded Walter Gropius as the director of the Bauhaus, where he stayed until the school closed in 1933. In 1937, Mies emigrated to the United States, and a year later became the director of architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The rest of his career was devoted to promoting the modernist style of architecture in the U.S., resulting in rigorously modern buildings such as the Farnsworth House and the Seagram Building, designed with Philip Johnson.

The modern city, with its towers of glass and steel, can be at least in part attributed to the influence of architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Equally significant, if smaller in scale, is Mies’ daring furniture designs, pieces that exhibit an unerring sense of proportion, as well as minimalist forms and exquisitely refined details.

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