B42

In 1926, the architects' association "Der Ring" was founded, which included notable members such as Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. That same year, Mies van der Rohe, quite literally with a flick of the wrist, designed what would become the most beautiful chair of the century: the Weißenhof Chair (B42).

It was exhibited a year later, in 1927, at the Weißenhof Exhibition in Stuttgart. In 1985, Stefan Wewerka described it as "the most beautiful ‘chair structure’ since Charlemagne’s throne." The initial inspiration came from architect Mart Stam’s cantilevered gas pipe chair.

In 1985, Sergius Ruegenberg recounted the creation of the Weißenhof Chair: “Mies came back from Stuttgart in November 1926 and told us about Mart Stam and his chair idea. We had a drawing board on the wall; Mies sketched Stam’s chair on it—angular, starting from the top. Ugly, such an ugly thing with those pipe fittings. If only he had rounded it—then it would have been more beautiful—and he sketched a curve. Just one arc from his hand on Stam’s sketch transformed the chair.”

Only one thing was missing from its extraordinary form: the seat and its covering. That was where Lilly Reich came in, an interior designer who began working in Mies van der Rohe’s office in 1926. The idea to equip the Weißenhof Chair with a woven cane seat came from both her and Mies. Together with a master weaver, Reich developed the new aesthetic that completed the expansive chair as a true Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art).

Since the 1980s, the chair has been handcrafted true to the original in Lauenförde by one of the last master weavers.