Newson Aluminum Chair

Honoring the cantilevered chairs of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the Newson Aluminum Chair, 90 years later, is a forward-looking expression that synthesizes simplicity, material and precision, in the Modernist tradition.

Product story

Newson and Benjamin Pardo, Knoll Design Director, agreed that a new side chair for Knoll would honor the aesthetic principles that inform the existing portfolio of Knoll Seating, specifically the cantilevered designs.

Newson and Pardo revisited several Knoll designs, starting with Mies van der Rohe’s Brno Chair. While the Brno Chair served as a catalyst for the exploration, it was ultimately the 1928 Tugendhat Chair that most inspired Newson’s final design. Pardo explained, “Newson’s Aluminum Chair really pays tribute to Mies’s Tugendhat Chair, employing a similar reverse cantilever. This reverse cantilever evokes a visual weightlessness and renders an incredibly simple profile, where the seat floats effortlessly and is joined to the back via the legs of the chair.”

“We wanted to reimagine the tubular steel construction revolutionized at the Bauhaus–which is transitively tied to Knoll–with Newson’s unique ability to imagine organic, almost futuristic shapes,” Pardo recalled.

With this in mind, Newson forwent tubular steel in favor of cast aluminum, a material he felt allowed for a more dynamic form. The chair consists of three high-pressure castings–a main frame and two end caps–which connect to create a remarkably simple, yet structurally sound frame. To Newson’s liking, the complexity of the engineering is made invisible through mechanical precision and streamlined design.

Marc Newson

Marc Newson has been described as one of the most influential designers of his generation. He has worked across a wide range of disciplines, creating everything from furniture and household objects to bicycles and cars, private and commercial aircraft, yachts, various architectural commissions, and signature sculptural pieces for clients across the globe. His clients include many of the best known and most prestigious brands in the world - from manufacturing and technology to transportation, fashion and the luxury goods sector.

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Additional Info

Construction and Details

Available with or without arms
- Arms are self-skinning urethane in medium grey or black finish and will match back insert (see below)
Mesh seat and back are knitted using two components: polyester yarn, which adds color and a soft hand, along with thermoplastic elastomer which provides the structural element
Back mesh is held in place with fiberglass-reinfoced nylon insert with medium grey or black finish
Frame is die cast aluminum
Nylon glides included
Stacks up to four high
Newson Aluminum Chair is certified Clean Air GOLD