Four Seasons Barstool

Overview

The Four Seasons Barstool (model 257C) is a cantilevered, backless bar stool with a chrome frame and a leather or fabric seat. Knoll dates it to 1958, when it was created for the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building in New York, and put it into production in 2006.

Construction

• Bent steel frame, chrome plated or, in the price list, antiqued bronze plated in satin finish
• Seat upholstered over a foam cushion reinforced with a plywood form
• Stitching detail on the rear left corner of the stool
• Offered in bar height only; the Knoll logo and Mies's signature are stamped into each piece

Specifications

• W 17" × D 17" × H 30" (432 × 432 × 762 mm); the price list calls the 30" the seat height
• Weight 24 lb
• Certified Clean Air GOLD

Made for the bar room

Knoll's page recalls that Mies van der Rohe was chosen in the mid-1950s as architect of the Seagram Building, with Philip Johnson as his cooperating local partner. Johnson designed the interiors of The Four Seasons restaurant on the ground floor, specified the master's furniture throughout, and in the bar room specified a stool of Miesian style and proportion.

Image source: Knoll — Four Seasons Barstool · © Knoll and the respective rights holders. Quoted to accompany INTEBEE's independent design commentary and research. · View official product page ↗ · Image use & copyright policy

Who drew it

No earlier drawings by Mies exist for the stool, and Knoll says it was most likely a collaboration between Johnson and Mies. The restaurant opened in November 1959. In 2004 Carl Magnusson developed the stool for production in Italy; Knoll introduced it in 2006, and its design-plan page says this was the first time it had been mass produced.