Mies Van der Rohe opened his own architectural firm in 1912. He left Nazi Germany in 1938 and emigrated to the United States where he taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. In 1948 he was made director of that institute. As in his architectural designs, his furniture designs conformed to his famous maxim "less is more". He is considered one of the most important 20th century chair designers, ie. Barcelona chair and the cantilever chairs.