The Tugendhat chair is a modernist

Modern furniture

Modern furniture refers to furniture produced from the late 19th century through the present that is influenced by modernism. It was a tremendous departure from all furniture design that had gone before it. Dark or gilded carved wood and richly patterned fabrics gave way to the glittering...

 cantilever chair

Cantilever chair

A cantilever chair is a chair with no back legs, relying for support on the properties of the material from which it is made. This famous form was designed by Mart Stam in 1926, and remains an important example of 20th century design....

 designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....

 in 1929-1930 for the Tugendhat House in Brno

Brno

Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...

, Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

.

In appearance, the Tugendhat chair is somewhat of a hybrid of Mies van der Rohe's 1929 Barcelona chair

Barcelona chair

The Barcelona chair was exclusively designed for the German Pavilion, that country's entry for the International Exposition of 1929, which was hosted by Barcelona, Spain...

 and 1929-1930 Brno chair

Brno chair

The Brno chair is a modernist cantilever chair designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1929-1930 for the bedroom of the Tugendhat House in Brno, Czech Republic...

. Like the Barcelona chair, the Tugendhat chair has a large padded leather

Leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...

 seat and back, supported by leather straps mounted on a steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

 frame and legs. However, like one variant of the Brno chair, the frame is flat solid steel, formed under into a C-shape under the seat to create a cantilever

Cantilever

A cantilever is a beam anchored at only one end. The beam carries the load to the support where it is resisted by moment and shear stress. Cantilever construction allows for overhanging structures without external bracing. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs.This is in...

. Versions exist with or without leather-padded steel arms. The metal was originally polished stainless steel

Stainless steel

In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....

; modern examples are often chrome-plated

Chrome plating

Chrome plating, often referred to simply as chrome, is a technique of electroplating a thin layer of chromium onto a metal object. The chromed layer can be decorative, provide corrosion resistance, ease cleaning procedures, or increase surface hardness.-Process:A component to be chrome plated will...

.

It was first produced by Josef Mueller Berliner Metallgewerbe and was later licensed to American furniture manufacturer Knoll

Knoll (company)

Knoll is a design firm that produces office systems, seating, files and storage, tables and desks, textiles , and accessories for office and for the home. The company also manufactures furniture for the home by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Harry Bertoia, Florence Knoll , Frank Gehry, Maya Lin and...

, who produced a limited number of the chairs with and without arms from 1948. Gerry Griffith in Chicago created examples in the 1960s for use in the United Airlines Executive Office Building designed by Bruce Graham

Bruce Graham

Bruce John Graham was an Colombian-American architect. Among his most notable buildings are the Inland Steel Building, the Willis Tower , and the John Hancock Center. He worked with Fazlur Khan on all three constructions...

 of Skidmore Owings and Merrill.