# Barcelona chair design; looking for suggestions



## ldavies (Apr 17, 2009)

Hello all,
I was in my doctors office the other week and he had a chair in there that I liked the look of. I asked him about it and he told me it was a "Barcelona chair". The next time he was there he let me take some measurements so now I have a pretty detailed knowledge of the physical aspects of the chair. Here is a link to it:
http://www.knoll.com/products/product.jsp?prod_id=577

The question I have for you guys and gals is:
1) Do you think it could be made from wood with a bent lamination technique and if so what wood(s) would be appropriate?
2) Any ideas as to how to strengthen the part that will take most of the pressure which I think is the place that the two main pieces intersect?
3) Does anyone have any suggestions where I could get inexpensive but good looking leather cushions to use for the seat and the back

Any other suggestions are most welcome.

I think this would be a most challenging and unique (at least in wood anyway) project.

Lloyd


----------



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Hey Loyd
I think the legs need to be much thicker than the photo if made from wood . Maybe a very dense wood like epi
would do the job. as for the cushions you might be able to find a used chair and reupholster it's cushions unless this will be a customers chair,
.


----------



## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

I would agree with Jim…

I would suggest any wood that is used in bow making like ash, yew or hickory (there are many more too - Osage Orange…etc….etc.). I would suggest you use the techniques that they use to insure that the chair can spring back to it original shape once the load is removed….(like using high tech polymers imbedded between the woods…).

Cushions would be the easiest of the parts as you can buy a piece of cheap foam (make it into the shape you want) and have a decent seamstress sew you up a cover….


----------



## Luke123 (Aug 25, 2009)

Hey Lloyd. You fell in love with the right chair, we have 4 of them in our living room and den area. I'd have to say, if you can pull this off via wood, please let us know. You could also provide this to many Barcelona Chair reproduction companies like Paradigm Gallery (www.pgmod.com), which is where we got ours. They also sell cushions separately in various types of leather, including standard aniline, semi-aniline, and full aniline. Good luck and keep us posted.


----------



## scottz (Oct 15, 2008)

The Barcelona chair is a classic.

As far as interpreting it in wood, check out the Vita chair by Thos Moser. It's a "tribute" to the Barcelona chair.

Also, there's a young LJ member who did a nice copy of the Thos Moser copy - his project is here.


----------



## Arnold (Aug 24, 2008)

scottz beat me to it.

http://www.thosmoser.com/product.detail.php?categoryid=&familyid=23&product_id=1322


----------



## simmontoffle (Feb 12, 2013)

Mies Van Der Rohe barcelona sessel design are really good. These are designed with chromed stainless steel and leather of superior quality. I suggest to improve curve of legs for a strong base.


----------

