MR Lounge Chair by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe | KnollStudio

The frame is made of stainless steel with a polished finish. The KnollStudio logo and signature of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe are stamped into the frame. The chair is as new. 

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe designed this chair around 1927. The form is derivated from the rocking chairs of the 19th century. 

Generally three names come up in the discussion about the origin of this chair. Marcel Breuer is widely credited with pioneering the exploration of the material, Mart Stam seems to be the first to conceive a “chair without back legs”, and Mies van der Rohe is remembered as the one who made it beautiful.

It is believed that Mart Stam described his idea—a continuous loop of steel with a cantilevered seat—at a meeting of the Werkbund in 1926. In attendance were Marcel Breuer and Mies van der Rohe, both of whom were inspired to design cantilever chairs of their own in the coming months. Mies replaced the right angles on the front legs with a graceful curve which had the advantage of increasing elasticity while preventing material fatigue.

In a period of five years, Mies developped an entire series of tubular steel designs now presented by Knoll as the MR Collection.