This chair originates from the meeting room of the Chamber of Commerce in the Beurs van Berlage. All chairs designed by Berlage for the meeting room (of which this is one example) had a fixed order of merit, according to position and importance of the councillor. Chairs for the Burgomaster and aldermen had a high back and bore the city coat of arms. The remaining chairs for the Chamber of Commerce councillors had a lower back, with no city coat of arms. Chairs for the employees and public were lighter and don’t even have arm rests. Berlage designed the meeting room not only as a meeting room for the Chamber of Commerce members; but also as a room for official and international receptions by the Burgomaster and Amsterdam councilmen. In this way the commodity exchange would fulfil a simultaneous public function. Prior to the opening of the Exchange, Berlage designed the majority of his furniture pieces. In 1911 the Chamber of Commerce moved into the Exchange.