Knoll - The licensed manufacturer of the Barcelona Chair.

Knoll - The licensed manufacturer of the Barcelona Chair.

The tremendous variety of materials and manufacturing processes summarized here - is indicative of the large number of companies around the world who manufacture chairs in this style.

Each of them offers a chair that is a little different from the others - although most are barely distinguishable.

Among these manufacturers however there is one that stands out. Knoll is the only manufacturer who can legally call their product 'the Mies Van Der Rohe Barcelona Chair'. Knoll licensed this design, directly from Mies Van Der Rohe in the 1950's.

It is however worth noting that the co designer of the Barcelona and Brno designes - Lily Reich was not consulted or recompensed in any way - when this licensing agreement was made. And as a result it might be considered morrally questionable even though it is legally binding.

Knoll continues to pay royalties on their sales to the Museum of Modern Art - who today own the design rights.

In legal terms - Knoll can sue someone for using the name 'Barcelona Chair', (a precedent set by the Herman Milller Vs Palizetti case of 1998). But is unlikely to win a case concerning use of the design itself, (trade dress). In the Herman Miller Vs Palizetti case the judges refused to even hear evidence in defense of trade dress rights, probably because there are simply too many chairs in this style on the market and it would not be feasible to find, much less sue, the manufacturers of them all.

How does the Knoll Barcelona Chair differ from that of the other manufacturers?

In truth the primary distinction is the brand name - The certificate of 'authenticity' and the Mies signature stamped on the underside of the Knoll frame. (a recent addition, not present in earlier Knoll Barcelona Chairs). In addition purchasing from Knoll, does ensure that the Museum of Modern Art is supported by your purchase. Buying the chair with the Knoll brand name also guarantees a consistency of quality, and a level of accountability that is very reassuring, although not necessarily exceptional relative to the best generic / unlicensed manufacturers.

That said it is important to ask oneself what exactly 'authentic' or 'certified' actually means in this context. Certainly the original designers are not overseeing the production, even 'Florence Knoll' who purchased the design from Mies is no longer overseeing production. The quality of the Knoll chair is nothing like the 'original' produced by Mies and Lilly for the Barcelona fair - most changes were made for the better, but does this make it inauthentic ?

Many changes were made by Knoll themselves. Today the Knoll's Barcelona chair specifications are barely comparable to 'the original'.

New materials have become available - such as stainless steel,
Old materials have proved inappropriate for large scale production - such as the pig skin leather, and feather filled cushions.
and new manufacturing facilities have proved to be better able to produce a consistently high quality product at reasonable cost - Production having begun in Germany initially - it is now available from the US, a large number of Italian manufacturers, Argentinian and Brazilian, Chinese and Korean, Turkish, Vietnamese, Romanian and Russian sources to name but a few.

In terms of the materials and manufacturing processes used - the Knoll chair can be described by its components and workmanship, its price and its availability just as the others can. The empirical comparison of these elements (stainless steel grade, leather / dye type, stitching, cushion fill, price etc) will leed some purchasers to the Knoll product, and other purchasers to the products of other manufacturers. There is no right and wrong here only fact, relative comparison and subjective conclusions.