Barcelona Chair Options

You are probably asking why we offer three different Barcelona chairs. We often ask this question ourselves. Firstly we should point out we love this iconic chair. It was my love for the Barcelona chair which motivated me to set up Iconic Interiors in 2004. From day one we have been only interested in offering the best reproduction of this design. We have always insisted on the best materials being used. I'll describe the differences below but please understand these three options are nothing to do with quality differences - we believe all three chairs are of the highest quality.

Any questions while reading this article please drop me an email.

Option One: The Barcelona chair (made in China)

This is the version we have sold since 2009. It is simply a beautiful chair and by far the best I have found in China (I have lost count of how many factories I have visited in the last ten years). There is no compromise with the build quality. We have a fantastic relationship with the factory and with the leather suppliers. This combination allows us to provide the chair in many different finishes. The chair oozes character and this can be seen in the collection of photographs below.

Price range: £850 - 1100.

Barcelona chair upholstered in our Old Chestnut full aniline leather. Photograph by Nick Freeman of 246Photography.

Barcelona chair upholstered in our Espresso Luxury full aniline leather. Photograph by Nick Freeman of 246Photography.

Barcelona chair upholstered in our Vintage full aniline leather. Photograph by Nick Freeman of 246Photography.

Barcelona chair upholstered in our Claret full aniline leather. Photograph by Nick Freeman of 246Photography.

Barcelona chair upholstered in our Blue full aniline leather. Photograph by Nick Freeman of 246Photography.

Option Two: The Bamberg Barcelona chair (made in China and the UK)

The Bamberg is a variation of Option One (The Chinese chair) and was inspired by my visit to Mies Van Der Rohe's Pavilion in Barcelona in 2012 (see details of the Barcelona Pavilion visit). The Barcelona chairs gracing the Pavilion were very old and still look beautiful. With use the seat straps had stretched and the cushions had consequently moulded into the frame. See the photographs below. On my return I had seen a very early Barcelona chair which had been sold in auction in Holland for approximately £56,000 (see details on our Bamberg Barcelona chair page). This was one of the very early Barcelona chairs made in the Bamberg Metallwerkstätten factory in 1931.

I was keen to replicate the early chairs. I achieved this by sourcing straps from a tannery in Chesterfield. The straps are very thick and have a rawness to their appearance. I purposely fitted these straps loose to the chair frame. This causes the cushions to sink into the curves of the Barcelona chair's steel frame - similar to the old chairs I had seen on my visit to the Barcelona Pavilion and in the photographs from Christie's Auction House.

Price range: £1700.

Photograph of me inspecting the chairs in Barcelona's Mies Van Der Rohe Pavilion.

Photograph of the chair sold in the Christie's auction.

Barcelona chair straps from Chesterfield, UK. Straps are fitted purposely slack. Photograph by Nick Freeman of 246Photography.

A photograph of me fitting the leather straps to a chair destined for a customer in Budapest.

Photographs supplied by our customer in Budapest with their new Bamberg chairs (upholstered in Antique full aniline leather). See full article.

Option Three: The Barcelona chair (made in Italy)

We regularly use a factory in Italy for many of the modern classics. Their version of the Barcelona chair is on par with the Chinese version we supply. Arguably it is closer to the Knoll version. The cushions are firmer than the Chinese chair.

A distinct advantage of the Italian chair is the seemingly endless leather and fabric options available and the shorter lead times (less than two weeks). Because the factory is relatively near we can easily send a hide of leather to the factory within a couple of days. The lead time is typically within two to three weeks. This is a big advantage to many customers. The price difference between the Chinese and Italian chair is simply down to European costs being higher than Chinese costs of manufacturing.

Price range: £1300.

All of the photographs above belong to Iconic Interiors and have been professionally shot by Nick Freeman of 246Photography. If you see these photographs elsewhere they are likely to have been taken without permission from our web site.

More information is available on our Barcelona chair page and our Bamberg Barcelona chair page.

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