In the wake of US OF A making history with nomination of its first Black candidate for a supreme job, I would like to dedicate some blogs to Women and Minority designers in the field of architecture and furniture design.

LILY REISCH – Co- designer of Barcelona chair

Accredited for co-designing some of Mies’ most famous works - his Barcelona chair, also known as the pavilion chair and the Brno chair, Reich started her career as a modernist designer with textile and fashion design. She met Mies Van Der Rohe at the Werkbund, a German association for artists, architects, designers, and industrialists. For thirteen years between 1925 and 1938, when Mies immigrated to the USA, the couple shared personal and professional domains. Interestingly, Albert Pheiffer, Vice President of Design and Management at Knoll, who has been researching on Reich for some time points out:

“It became more than a coincidence that Mies’s involvement and success in exhibition design began at the same time as his personal relationship with Reich”. And “It is interesting to note that Mies did not fully develop any contemporary furniture successfully before or after his collaboration with Reich.”

Eileen Gray (again one of my faves) was born in an aristocratic Irish family. One of the pioneers of modern design during the 1920s and 30s, her tubular steel furniture design were ground breaking. The Bibendum chair designed by Eileen Gray in the early 1900s was largely forgotten until an original surfaced in a 1972 auction prompting a new production of this design classic. In the second stage of her career, Eileen Gray switched to architecture and continued producing masterpieces. And her legendary Adjustable Table E 1027 has been added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. I saw a replica of the Adjustable table at Spacify with a 10 year warranty—check it out.

There are other designs by Reich and Rohe like the popular Barcelona day bed and the Bench. Priceless modern classics…..

Home Furnishings, Family room Furniture , Contemporary Furniture