Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) trained in the family stonemason business in Berlin, before studying architecture. He first worked at Peter Behrens' offices where Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius started out, setting up his own practice in 1914. His tubular steel furniture of the mid-1920s took the world by storm, and in 1929 he created the German Pavilion for the Barcelona International Exhibition, a comprehensive and enduring example of the International Style.