Design icons: BKF Chair, universal design.

As a person greatly enamored with industrial design, I recognize that one of the pieces I most admire is the BKF chair, a unique piece in the world with more than 75 years of history and long-standing renown.

Just a few weeks ago I visited the Museu del Disseny in Barcelona where, once again, I was able to admire this singular and original piece, which forms part of the permanent collection of the different expositions on display there.

The BKF chair, also known as Butterfly chair, was created in 1938 by the Austral Group, made up of the architects Antonio Bonet, Juan Kurchan and Jorge Ferrari, who used the first letters of their surnames to baptize the piece. The team worked in the study of Le Corbusier, the master of masters, in Paris and later moved to Buenos Aires, where they created a large number of their internationally renowned pieces.

A symbol of Argentine national design around the world, the BKF chair has survived the test of time and has become an essential piece for all true lovers of contemporary design.

Actually, the original designer of the spectacular and much-copied chair is Ferrari Hardoy, one of the three members of the Austral Group, although authorship of the piece has always been shared with the other two architects, Antonio Bonet i Castellana, born in Barcelona and the brain behind the Casa La Ricarda, one of the most important pieces of architectural rationalism in the world, and Juan Kurchan, an architect and designer from Buenos Aires and one of the driving forces behind the Modern Movement in Argentina.

The BKF chair forms part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

At a functional level, the weight falls on a light steel structure while the body and back of the chair are based on a single piece of leather. Its morphology allows the user to assume various positions when sitting and experience the sensation of being in a hammock.

In 1945, the American publisher Knoll produced it and made it internationally famous. During the 1950s different manufacturers produced more than 5 million BKF chairs under different names, cheap copies made with materials different from the original ones.

With more than 75 years of history, the BKF chair remains one of the most admired pieces on the international stage.

If you visit Barcelona, don’t forget to visit the Museu del Disseny to enjoy this particular piece created by the Austral Group, among other original pieces which make up the exposition titled “From the world to the museum, product design, cultural heritage”.