Wright Auction

Powell first saw the Georgia sofa in the mid-1960s, when he, along with a group from SOM, attended the groundbreaking of Mies van der Rohe’s National Gallery in Berlin. Some of the group (including Powell) joined Mies on a visit to a warehouse he had maintained in Germany since his departure in the 1930s that housed many of his prototype designs. Later, Powell found drawings of this sofa among those made by his SOM colleague William Dunlap, who, as one of Mies’ first employees, was tasked with making measured drawings of every one of Mies’ furniture designs.

Powell/Kleinschmidt sourced the undyed Moroccan wool upholstery from Margit Pinter, an importer who had worked extensively with SOM in the 1960s. The natural oils in the wool make it remarkably soil-resistant, and it remains in pristine condition after 30 years of use.


Image courtesy of Jon Miller (c) Hedrich Blessing