Leather & Chrome Chairs by Mies Van Der Rohe for Knoll International, 1970s, Set of 6

This is a set of 6 black leather and chrome lace back Mies van der Rohe MR10 cantilever chairs produced by Knoll International.

These chairs are a design icon being one of the very first cantilever design chairs ever designed by van der Rohe. Comfortable and perfectly balanced they have become one of the most enduring designs of the 20th Century with manufacturing starting in 1927 and still continuing to this day.

Originally known as the Weissenhof chair (after the exhibition it was first launched at) and produced by Gebrüder Thonet within Europe, the license to produce the chairs in the U.S. was later acquired by Knoll International who started production in the late 1950s. Although the chrome work was imprinted with Knoll’s branding much later in production, around the 1990s, earlier versions were not marked. However, they are still reliably identified by a number of key indicators: apart from weight and the general quality of craftsmanship, the Knoll version of the chair is recognised by the lace back and sprung seat base which along with the offset chrome seat stretcher and small rear back slide stop hooks are key signatures of Knoll’s original production method.

This set was believed to have been produced, by reference to the previous owners who had owned them since new, in the early 1970s.