If you’ve always wanted one of those black leather Knoll Barcelona lounge chairs designed by architect Mies van der Rohe, but can’t live with the just-under-$6,000 standard price tag (for the chair alone – the stool will set you back another $2K at most online retailers), you might want to get by Mid Mod Collective, ASAP. They’ve got the chair and stool for $1,699.
Tucked into its own little hollow a couple blocks north of the thriving urban hub that is Happy Holler, Mid Mod Collective is housed in a deceptively modest single-story building that, viewed from the outside, still resembles the auto repair shop it used to be.
But inside the former Higginbotham’s Auto Service at 1617 N. Central is a colorful and carefully curated inventory of furniture, art and vintage clothing that is drawing collectors of all things mid-century modern from across the Southeast.
“Most people have to go to Atlanta, Charlotte or New York to find furniture of this quality,” said author/photographer Reed Massengill, who was shopping at Mid Mod Collective last Friday. “We are fortunate to have Mid Mod Collective here in Knoxville.”
The “collective” consists of four couples, Chris and Allyson Virden, Shannon Bedwell and Blake Deal, Thomas Miller and Robin Miller, and Todd Parrott Witcher and Cheryl Holcombe, who have pooled their resources and take turns minding the store, which is open 11 a.m.-6 p.m., seven days a week.
The Book Eddy and Wild Love Bakehouse share the space with Mid Mod Collective, making for an eclectic North Knoxville destination.
Custom poplar, metal and glass coffee table created by Chattanooga interior designer Barbara Messerlian while she was a student at the University of Tennessee
Black leather Knoll Barcelona chair