Mies van de Rohe was a designer from the modernist movement era, and did a number of well known works pioneering a new architectural style that envisions clarity and simplicity. He created buildings that utilized materials such as industrial steel and plate glass to achieve this effect and followed well known mantras such as "less is more". Primarily a practicer of architecture, Van de Rohe did have a period of flirtation with furniture design, and experimented with new industrial technologies to create more luxurious pieces such as the highly popular Barcelona chair.
Despite being designed as an intended one-off entry for the International Expo in 1929, in Barcelona Spain, the two piece chair and ottoman became an icon of modernism and has enjoyed years of reproduction. Inspired by (but by no means functionally similar) folding chairs, the look has an evocative familiarity but a sense of modern adaptation that makes this chair of the 1930s retain an almost timeless look of present day design.
Moving away from his traditional design values, the frame was instead of being bolted together, made from stainless steel and formed into a single seamless piece of metal. To balance the feel, the cushions were dark leather (another replacement from the original intent of using ivory pigskin). The frame supports the cushions by means of a series of visible leather straps.
[image sources]
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/58/Ludwig_Mies_van_der_Rohe.jpg/220px-Ludwig_Mies_van_der_Rohe.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/db/Mies-Barcelona-Chair-and-Ottoman.jpg/250px-Mies-Barcelona-Chair-and-Ottoman.jpg
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