Barceloneta Chair

Mila, Alfonso, 1953
This low, lightweight chair was commissioned by the architect Jose Antonio Coderch to Correa and Mila, at the time apprentices in his studio, to furnish the Casa de la Marina in Barceloneta, a popular sailors' district in Barcelona. Designed to be easily transported, the lounge chair features a cord-tensioned backrest and a wooden frame. Its unusual high, inclined backrest invites for relaxation as it supports the head. Due to the low seat height and its lack of armrests, books and drinks placed on the floor lie right at one's fingertips. The structure is made of beech wood, presenting a beautiful linking system where rear leg, backrest and seat are all joined in the shape of a triangle. The seat upholstery is fixed and comprised of double-sided leather, while the backrest, detachable and washable, consists of a sturdy white canvas. Tensioned at its best, the backrest is tied behind with a cord, suggestive of a marine sail. Barceloneta is a chair whose shape and height equate it with a gandula, quite an explicit furniture category, which evokes the social face of architecture, simple both in its humanity and its good use. By far, it is one of the 1950s Mediterranean Rationalism's finest examples. Correa and Mila named it after the sailors' district, not only because the building it was commissioned for was built there, but also as an ironic reference to Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona chair, made of steel and tanned leather, which had always been beyond all fishermen's budget.
Clean with a soft cloth dampened with water. Do not use ammonia products, solvents or abrasives that could damage the finish.