The Womb, the Wassily, the Barcelona—name any of the 20th century's most iconic chairs and chances are that many, if not most, were produced by a company that started as a husband-and-wife outfit on Madison Avenue and grew to become a force for revolutionary design across the globe: Knoll. Modernist design in the United States hits a major milestone this year as the company that made some of the best furniture designs household names celebrates its 80th anniversary. Knoll was first to produce such iconic furniture pieces as Eero Saarinen’s Womb Chair (1948) and Tulip Chair (1956), Harry Bertoia’s Diamond Chair (1952), Warren Platner’s seminal seating and table collection (1966), the Lunario table series (1972) from Cini Boeri, and Joseph D’Urso’s High Table (1980). The company also holds the exclusive rights to produce Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Chair (1929) and Marcel Breuer’s masterpiece, the Wassily Chair (1925). In fact, all of these museum-worthy masterpieces are still in production today.
The story of Hans and Florence Knoll is one of determination, ingenuity, and passion. Building upon the ideals of the Bauhaus movement and the European modernist aesthetic, the couple recruited the world’s most significant talent for inclusion in their well-curated collections. Renowned designers such as Franco Albini, George Nakashima, Andre Dupre, and Pierre Jeanneret helped make Knoll a leader in the contract furniture market.
Today, Knoll’s revenue is roughly $1.13 billion in a nearly $12 billion interior design industry—an unfathomable achievement for a man who came to America peddling flat springs for upholstered seating door-to-door.
Third-generation furniture manufacturer Hans Knoll arrived in New York City in 1937 with the notion that the timing was right for the U.S. to receive the message of modern European furniture design. Within a year, in 1938, the charismatic German immigrant had founded Hans Knoll Furniture, promoting designs from his father’s company (including the Prodomo and Elbo lines of upholstered furniture) out of an office at 444 Madison Avenue. Quickly, Knoll understood that for his business to survive, he would have to become a manufacturer, rather than an importer, and in 1941 he would forge two decisive and important relationships.
The first was with Jens Risom, a 25-year-old Danish-born furniture designer who landed in New York two years after Knoll to study American design. His first job in 1939 was freelance, designing textiles for Dan Cooper—an unfulfilling endeavor both financially and creatively. Risom would spend another year searching for a manufacturer for whom he could design modernist furniture. The partnership between the two visionary émigrés was a turning point for style in the world of office and home interiors. With Knoll sourcing the clients and Risom creating the look, the pair brought a modern European feel to the corporate interiors of industrial giants like Johnson & Johnson and General Motors, as well as to the private office of Nelson Rockefeller, and the residence of William McCormick Blair (father-in-law to style icon Deeda Blair).
Michigan-born Florence Schust was Knoll's second crucial partnership. In 1941, Schust was a 24-year-old architect and furniture designer who had studied under a number of influential creatives including Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, his son Eero Saarinen, Charles Eames, Walter Gropius, and Marcel Breuer. After meeting Hans, her first project with Knoll was to design the office interiors for Henry L. Stimson, the U.S. secretary of war. Other government jobs followed, and from 1943—when Risom’s military service began—Schust was employed full-time. As their creative partnership flourished, an equally inspiring romance ensued. They married in 1946 and Hans Knoll Furniture became Knoll Associates.
One of the most immediate impacts of their business partnerships came from Florence’s interest in design and architecture with the formation of the Knoll Planning Unit. Interior planning, she believed, went hand in hand with the selling of furniture—a comprehensive design solution for Knoll’s roster of clients, which would go on to include the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), Dow Chemical, and the Federal Reserve Bank in Detroit. With showrooms (designed by Florence) located across the country by the 1950s, the “Knoll identity” became the design standard for offices of contemporary corporate powerhouses. Tragically, in 1955, less than a decade after Florence and Hans wed, he was killed in an automobile accident in Cuba, leaving Florence alone at the helm. Though she would remain active in the company for another 10 years, upon completing work on the CBS headquarters in 1965, Florence retired to pursue a life outside of Knoll.
In honor of the anniversary, AD PRO talked to Benjamin Pardo, Knoll’s design director, about the brand's significance in the world of interiors and design, as well as his thoughts about Knoll’s evolution and ultimate legacy.
AD PRO: What do you feel is the most important contribution that Knoll has made to the world of design?
Benjamin Pardo: Knoll stands for a rigorous approach to planning that acknowledges the relationship between architecture, furniture, and space. We are united by a definitive process and a distinct modern sensibility.
AD PRO: Florence Knoll created and ran the Knoll Planning Unit, which really defined high-concept interior style for the office/workspace. How did her work influence the role of interior designers?
BP: The Knoll Planning Unit defined the standard for modern corporate interiors, based on Florence Knoll’s belief in "total design." The Unit created its final project for the CBS offices in Eero Saarinen’s landmark New York tower. The Planning Unit set standards for workplace planning as we know them today through observation, field research, and modern design principles. The result: modern notions of efficiency, space planning, and comprehensive design in office planning.
AD PRO: How is Knoll evolving to keep in step with today's ever-changing workspaces in the 21st century?
BP: Over the years, Knoll has refined the Planning Unit’s precepts by understanding clients' requirements in step with changing workstyles and technology. From day one, we have thrived by identifying the best architects and industrial designers worldwide to solve workplace challenges with product solutions that redefine flexibility, or address the roles of individuals and teams—for example, pioneering innovative manufacturing technologies and materials along the way.
AD PRO: Can you tell me about a few of the pieces being unveiled this year?
BP: For our 80th anniversary, we are continuing to work with Piero Lissoni on upholstered seating and we are also introducing Marc Newson’s Chair, which honors Mies’s cantilevered chairs. The Newson design synthesizes simplicity, material, and precision, in the modernist tradition.
AD PRO: Florence Knoll turns 101 this year, and though she hasn’t been involved with the company since her retirement in 1965, what do you imagine she thinks about the legacy and future of Knoll?
BP: Florence Knoll created a global brand that she should be proud of today. I expect that she shares our belief that design is inherently about the future, tackling problems that are yet to come—with innovation that is both timeless and adaptable.
