Barcelona chair Low-poly 3D model

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The Barcelona Chair is a chair expertly crafted by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich. It was originally designed for the German Pavilion, Germany's official entry in the International Exposition of 1929, which took place in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. First used at Villa Tugendhat, a World Heritage Site also designed by Mies van der Rohe, located in Brno, Czech Republic. The frame was initially intended to be assembled using bolts but was redesigned in 1950 with stainless steel, enabling the creation of a seamless piece of metal that yields a sleek appearance. Bovine leather replaces the original ivory-colored pigskin used on early pieces. Although many architects and furniture designers from the Bauhaus era were committed to providing well-designed homes and high-quality furnishings for everyday people, the Barcelona chair stands out as an exception. It was designed specifically for Spanish royalty to oversee the opening ceremonies of the exhibition and is described by Time magazine as inhabiting its majestic German pavilion. The design is thought to be derived from Roman folding chairs known as the Curule chair - upholstered stools used by Roman aristocrats. According to Knoll Inc., despite its industrial appearance, the Barcelona chair requires considerable hand craftsmanship. Since 1953, Knoll Inc has been manufacturing Barcelona chairs, producing the frame in two different steel configurations: chrome and stainless. They claim that their chairs are almost entirely hand-crafted, with a facsimile of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's signature stamped into each one. Barcelona chairs are produced by various manufacturers worldwide and sold under distinct brand names. In his 1981 book about modern architecture, From Bauhaus to Our House, Tom Wolfe satirized the Barcelona chair as the ultimate ideal of a chair, noting that despite its high price, owning one had become a necessity for young architects: When you spotted the sacred object on the sisal rug, you knew you were in a household where a budding architect and his young wife had sacrificed everything to bring the symbol of their noble mission into their home.