Many, if not most of the early furniture designs of the 20th century were made and designed by architects! At that time, homes were surprisingly short on home furnishings that matched the new homes, so the architects lent a hand. A slightly off-genre contribution, the look was both attractive and functional with the concentration on usefulness.
Furniture throughout the centuries, much like clothing design, had often been based on quantity. A massive piece of wooden furniture showed that the owner could afford the largest possible piece of quality material, like mahogany or redwood. Clothing had a similar status message.
A large piece of single toned brocade, for example, showed that the family had money to buy such a large piece of fabric all at once. The peasants and the gypsies showed scraps and patches on their clothing, multicoloured and fanciful, but definitely not upper class.
About a hundred years ago, furniture trends made a definite shift for the better. A heavy ottoman was now replaced by Marcel Breuer's slim and tidy Wassily Chair (also known as the Model B3 Chair), Arne Jacobsen's Egg Chair, art deco configurations like Eileen Grey's side table, as well as functional masterpieces. In many cases, they were both eclectic and user friendly, making them an instant hit in both Europe and in the United States.
Perhaps the earliest of these trendy new seating sensations was the Barcelona Chair. It was designed by Lilly Reich and Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe in 1929, a pioneering master of modern architecture. It was supposedly inspired by the folding chairs of the Pharoahs. This chair was dedicated to the Spanish Royal Family on the occasion of the Barcelona World's Fair.
Van Der Rohe is famous, not unlike Frank Lloyd Wright, for his functional style.
Born and raised in Germany, he later immigrated to the United States, where he founded Chicago's Second School. He is famous for his "skin and bones" architecture, and was quoted as saying "less is more" and "God is in the details".
However, not all of these designer armchairs were truly functional. As the architects' styles became progressively weirder, armchair styles began running rampant without any clear direction. Daniel Libeskind designed the complicated Torque Chair, which makes a person wonder if they want to sit in it or not.
