Review and Comparison Guide: Modern Classic's Exhibition Chair

Inspired by: Mies van der Rohe Barcelona Chair and Ottoman

Click image to enlarge.

Why Our Version is the Best:

#304 Stainless Steel Frame (not chrome plated steel)
Top grain Italian leathers
Matching belting
Matching buttons and leather piping throughout
Exclusive: Powdercoating in 4colors are available (for an extra charge)
Specify your own Fabrics (for an extra charge)

Our Item No.	MC-1001
Base Price	$ 1,690
Overall Dimensions:	30.5"w x 31.5"d x 31"h
Seat Height:	18 inches
Seat Dimensions:	30.5"w x 18"d
Weight:	49 pounds
View Product Ordering Page	View In-Stock Colors

Summary: Modern Classics vs. Others

Who makes the best Mies van der Rohe-inspired barcelona chair? To help you decide, we wrote this comparison guide to highlight 4 popular sellers of this iconic chair - the primary contenders if you will - so you can compare them detail for detail. Of course, while we may seem biased, we still feel this guide clearly demonstrates how our interpretation of the Barcelona Chair is truly one the best on the market.

Some Key Points to consider:

We weld and polish our frame right here in Bellingham Washington, which closely matches the original brand;
We sourced and designed our own leather colors from Italian tanneries;
We closely adhere to the sewing details of the original brand such as hand-sewn welting (piping), dime-sized buttons and stainless steel snaps.
We assembly the components for this model in Bellingham WA; and
We offer customizing options such as powder coated frames and customer's provided leather

Feature	Modern Classics	Design Within Reach	Room & Board	Barcelona Designs
Exhibition (Barcelona) Chair	$ 1,690	$ 5,592	$ 2,799	$ 899
Frame Dimensions
Frame Metal
Frame Straps/Snaps
Foam Details
Cushion Dimensions
Cushion Sewing
Upholstery Materials
Custom Options

Modern Classics Brand

BASE PRICE:

$1,690

FRAME DIMENSIONS:

Our frame dimensions are modeled from original 1964 engineering - production drawings, and are the closest to the designer's original intent of the model updated from his original 1929 version model. Our seat cushions are 18.5 inch deep, the deepest among the competitors and our seat slope extends from 17 inches in the front to 13 inches at the back, allowing it to be easy to get in and out of the chair while adding an extra comfortable sitting experience.

FRAME METAL:

Our Frames are precision formed with No. 304 grade stainless steel and hand-polished to a mirror-like finish. By using higher grade #304 stainless steel we achieve a more natural appearance metal feature than plated chrome as well as a more environmentally safe steel compared to “plated chrome”. Stainless steel is easy to maintain, inherently corrosive resistant and repairable by hand polishing offering a near life-time of trouble fee use. Besides the hand-polished look, we can make our frame with a powdercoated finish in 4 different colors or you can pick your own.

FRAME STRAPS/SNAPS:

Our Upholstery straps are cowhide leather belting, dyed to match specified upholstery color - 17 straps are used for cushion support. Our Upholstery Straps are attached to the chair's frame with sturdy high grade anti-corrosive Aluminum rivets. Back cushions are held in place with 4 snaps; seat cushions are held in place with three snaps. Snaps are stainless steel.

FOAM DETAILS:

We use luxury grade HR (High Resilient) Multi-Density Foam in our cushion construction giving our customers a very comfortable sitting experience - the most comfortable on the market! This foam is an environmentally and people safe material produced by a major world-recognized foam manufacturer. Our foam is rated by independent certified testing laboratories and tested for commercial safety grade fire and smoke standards for Europe and USA. Additionally, the foam is wrapped with Dacron polyester fiberfill for additional softness and seat comfort.

CUSHION DIMENSIONS:

Our back and seat cushions are slightly taller and deeper to the frame, so they look good when someone is seated in them (no folding inward or excess pillowing of the cushions) or when the chair is unoccupied. Our back cushion has the proper curve to match the frame.

CUSHION SEWING:

Our Cushions are upholstered with 40 individual panels, which are hand-cut, hand-welted, and hand-tufted with leather buttons about the size of a U.S. dime coin. Our Cushions have leather on top, back and sides, with no seams on the front and top corners.

UPHOLSTERY MATERIALS:

We offer 20 imported Italian leather colors as standard, with the option of providing your own leather or selecting from our wide range of color and texture selection of stock European leather colors for a minor surcharge. We also offer our exclusive Boucle Fabric in 20 colors for our chairs.

Design Within Reach

BASE PRICE:

$6,738

FRAME DIMENSIONS:

The Knoll brand chair dimensions have been altered through the years. The current version has a very sloped seat, making it difficult to get in and out of the chair, along with a poor sitting position.

FRAME METAL:

Their chair frame is polished chrome hand-ground and hand-buffed to a mirror finish. The chrome plating process of metals has been noted as a generally unsafe manufacturing process for our an environmentally and when scratched or chipped, the steel will rust and it cannot be easily repaired.

FRAME STRAPS/SNAPS:

Their chair's upholstery straps are cowhide leather belting, dyed to match specified upholstery color - 17 straps are used for cushion support. Straps are attached with aluminum rivets. Back cushions is held in place with 4 snaps; seat cushion is held in place with three snaps. Snaps are zinc plated steel.

FOAM DETAILS:

The say they use highly resilient urethane foam with down-like Dacron polyester fiberfill on the outside. However, their chair cushions have extremely high foam density, which make their cushions extra hard and not very comfortable.

CUSHION DIMENSIONS:

Their current chair version have shorter back and seat cushions and appear to overly exposed the frame when seated in it. Back cushion has the proper curve to match the frame; seat cushion has scalloped back edge to match the curve of the frame.

CUSHION SEWING:

Their chair is upholstered with 40 individual panels, which are cut, hand-welted, and hand-tufted with leather buttons about the size of a dime. Cushions have leather on top, back and sides, with no seams on the front and top corners.

UPHOLSTERY MATERIALS:

The chair that DWR sells only has a choice of 6 leather colors as standard, although there is the option to selects from the entire Spinneybeck leather collection for a substantial surcharge. Not offered in Fabric or in your own materials.

Room and Board

BASE PRICE:

$2,799

FRAME DIMENSIONS:

Frame dimension are slightly smaller in overall size than our version and the curve on the back legs is not correct when compared to the Signature version.

FRAME METAL:

Their frame is chrome plated to a shiny blue-tint finish. Once again, the chrome plating process of metals has been noted as a generally unsafe manufacturing process for our an environmentally and when scratched or chipped, the steel will rust and it cannot be easily repaired.

FRAME STRAPS/SNAPS:

Their chair's upholstery straps are cowhide leather belting, dyed to match specified upholstery color - 17 straps are used for cushion support. Straps are attached with zinc-plated rivets. Back cushion is held in place with only 2 snaps; seat cushion is held in place with three snaps. Snaps are zinc plated steel.

FOAM DETAILS:

They most likely use highly resilient urethane foam with down-like Dacron polyester fiberfill on the outside. Foam density is super low, making the cushions extra soft and not very comfortable.

CUSHION DIMENSIONS:

The Room and Board Seville model seat cushion is too short, so the front frame is exposed plus is makes it uncomfortable to sit in. Their bback cushion does not have the proper curve to match the frame; seat cushion is not scalloped back edge to match the curve of the frame.

CUSHION SEWING:

Their chair is upholstered with 40 individual panels, but use corded piping between the panels. Corded piping is a fake way to create the hand-welting, and are uncomfortable to sit on. Leather buttons are about the size of a dime. Cushions have leather on top, back and sides, with no seams on the front and top corners.

UPHOLSTERY MATERIALS:

Room and Board only offer 3 leather colors, are not offered in Fabric, custom leather or in your own materials. They cannot even give you a leather sample to take home nor can they send out leather samples.

Barcelona Designs

BASE PRICE:

$ 599

FRAME DIMENSIONS:

Their chair frame dimensions seem slightly smaller in overall size than our version and the curve on the back legs is not correct. Not to specifications.

FRAME METAL:

Their chair frame is lower grade stainless steel, machined-polished and has a dull, milky finish. Does not look like chrome or very good stainless steel.

FRAME STRAPS/SNAPS:

Their chair frame is lower grade stainless steel, machined-polished and has a dull, milky finish. Does not look like chrome or very good stainless steel.

FOAM DETAILS:

Their chair uses inexpensive foam with no Dacron polyester fiberfill wrapped on the on the outside of the foam. Foam density is high, making the cushions extra hard and not very comfortable.

CUSHION DIMENSIONS:

Their chair is seat and back cushions are too big for the frame, making it uncomfortable to sit in. Back cushion does not have the proper curve to match the frame; seat cushion is not scalloped back edge to match the curve of the frame.

CUSHION SEWING:

Their chair is upholstered with 40 individual panels, but use corded piping between the panels. Corded piping is a fake way to create the hand-welting, and are uncomfortable to sit on. Buttons about the size of a quarter and are visible from the back.

UPHOLSTERY MATERIALS:

Their chair is typically offered in only 1 or 2 leather colors: black and white. Upholstery might be leather, bonded leather, or vinyl; in any case, not quality A level Italian or USA leather.

Product Description

Our Exhibition chair was inspired by the Mies van der Rohe lounge chair known the world over as the "Barcelona Chair" Shown above with Espresso Brown leather, our frame is constructed from premium grade solid bar stock stainless steel. All joints are fully welded, sealed, and seamless. The frame is hand-polished to a mirror finish. Four snaps attach the back cushion to the frame; 2 snaps and a belt attach the bottom cushion to the frame.

Our chair cushion surfaces consist of 40 individual top-grain leather panels; each piece is cut and hand-sewn using a hand-rolling welting technique called Capitone, which not found in other similar chairs on the market. (Capitone is the upholstery technique style cushions: tufted inpleated squares or sections with buttons or tufting points that are pulled through the seat cushion interior core (foam). This technique of sewing has been around for centuries and found in garmet designs, furniture, car and horse carriage seats, etc.) The seat and back cushions are filled with high resilient - high density polyurethane foam. The cushions are supported by heavy saddle leather straps riveted to the frame and whose top and side edges match upholstery color. Front and top corners of the cushions have no exposed seams. Compared to the other similar chairs on the market, ours is well known to be a lot more comfortable.

LEATHER CHOICES

Modern Classics Furniture offers two levels of Leather: Standard and Premium Leather. Each of the these groupings feature:

Top-grain leather from Grade A hides
Semi aniline-dyed (standard) and 100% aniline-dyed (premium)
Made in Italy and imported to our factory
No split hides or bonded leather

We are happy to mail you a physical piece of leather so you can hold it in your hands.

Swatch Sample Request Form

Below are the leather colors we offer for our Barcelona Style Chair. Our standard leathers (denoted with the prefix L1) are top-grain, semi-aniline-dyed, corrected with a slight embossing. Our Premium leathers (denoted with the prefix L2) are top-grain, 100% aniline-dyed and have a soft feel to them and much of the hides natural grain patterns are retained. They are also a little shinier than the Standard Leather. We do not use split hides leather. Leather thickness is generally 1.0 - 1.2 mm depending on application of seating component for stretching and tailoring the upholstery design and condition. Both the Standard and Premium Leathers are considered equally durable and are ideal for home or commercial use.

Standard Leathers:

Arctic White

L101

Polar White

L103

Parchment

L115

Earth Tan

L124

Cocoa Brown

L131

Java Brown

L135

Charcoal Gray

L139

Standard Black

L143

Standard Red

L147

Premium Leathers:

Porcelain White

L201

Beige White

L211

Alpine White

L203

Sandstone

L215

Driftwood Tan

L219

Golden Tan

L227

Espresso Brown

L235

Navy Blue

L237

Nimbus Gray

L238

Cloud Gray

L239

Premium Black

L244

Premium Red

L247

Other Metal Frame Color Choices

Besides the standard #304 Polished Stainless Steel shown above, we do our own in-house powdercoating over the stainless steel frame. We offer 4 additional colors, but our powder supplier offers about 6,000 colors, so maybe you can get that fluorescent pink frame after all. These are the finishes we have, and there is a slight extra charge for the finishing.

Antique Brass

62#

Silver Metallic

63#

Dark Bronze Metallic

67#

Satin Black

68#

CUSTOMER COMMENTS

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Bellingham Showroom

ADDRESS:

Irongate Business Park
1788 Midway Lane
Bellingham, WA 98226

HOURS:

Monday - Thursday 10am to 4pm
and by appointment

MANAGER:

Curt Roth or Chris Jones

PHONE:

360-733-6400

EMAIL:

curt@modernclassics.com

Click for Directions

Other Products by this Designer

Exhibiton Ottoman

Exhibiton Daybed

Exhibition Benches

Exhibition Tables

Executive Flat Arm
Side Chairr