Greta Tugendhat about furniture
‘Mies had a round table designed for the circular dining room with one metal leg, in the exact form of the iron columns. The table top was from black pear tree wood. The reverse side had metal rails with laths inserted, allowing for additional circular segments to be laid in order to enlarge the table to twice the size. We had 24 chairs in the dining room, which are now known as Brno chairs and which were upholstered with white sheepskin. Two Tugendhat armchairs were situated in front of the onyx wall covered in silver-grey 'rodion' material and two Barcelona armchairs covered in emerald green leather. A reclining chair was situated in front of the glazed wall whose upholstering was from ruby red velvet.’
Greta Tugendhat about supporting construction - columns
The Tugendhats came to Berlin on New Year’ s Eve 1928 to celebrate with their friends
only to spend time with Mies in his studio up until past midnight where they received the completed project. ‘We initially saw the floor plan for one huge room with one circular and one free standing wall. We consequently noticed small crosses at approximately five metres distance from one another. We asked, 'What are these?' Mies answered calmly, 'Those are iron supports which hold up the entire structure.' At that there had never been a private house built with an iron construction so you can imagine our initial surprise.’
Greta about the onyx wall
In February 1969 Greta wrote, ‘I do not know which stonemason company Mies obtained the stone from. Mr. Lohan (grandson of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) told me he found it in Hamburg where it was supposed to be used for the production of two large vases for a luxury steamer. It had been committed to be sold; consequently they did not want to oblige Mies. He was so impressed by it, however, that he refused to give in and finally obtained it in the end.’