www.knoll.com
Legendary designer Florence Knoll celebrated her 100th birthday on May 24. From her days at Cranbrook to her 2002 National Medal of the Arts, we’ve chronicled her many achievements.
The Bauhaus architect Marcel Breuer designed a home for the Snower family in Mission Hills, Kansas in 1954. With the help of Kansas City-based design practice Hufft Projects, the new owners of the Snower House restored the abode to its original form, furniture and all.
Discover the full story on Knoll Inspiration.
Photography: Michael Robinson
For nearly 80 years, Knoll has had a home in the city of New York. Designers including Florence Knoll, Gae Aulenti, Robert Venturi and Paul Haigh have used the Knoll showroom to test and articulate the design philosophy of the company.
To honor the 70th anniversary of KnollTextiles, Creative Director Dorothy Cosonas delved into the archives, reinterpreting classic upholstery designs for today’s market.
On an island off Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, interior designer Lucien Rees Roberts and architect Steven Harris have transformed a compound of medieval structures into a languid holiday home.
Read more on Knoll Inspiration.
Photograph © Scott Frances/OTTO.
Known for his informed opinions, generous disposition and extensive bowtie collection, Jeff Osborne steered Knoll during the ‘70s and ‘80s to a position that reconciled its Bauhaus roots with a supple, optimistic future.
When Jonathan Olivares was asked to design a contemporary outdoor chair for Knoll, he found himself pushing the limits of materials in ways he didn’t think possible. The Olivares Aluminum Chair is an entirely dye-cast design, and its slender, sculpted form results in the perfect outdoor perch.
Catch a glimpse into the design process on Knoll Inspiration.
“Outside is all vistas and light, while the interior somehow feels like I am still living in New York,” said Charles Churchward of his modernist home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
When the art director decamped to the desert, he took four decades worth of art, sculpture, photography, and furniture with him. The result is part East Coast energy, part desert serenity.
“The specifics of the problem of designing the exhibition Knoll Au Louvre were how to show 3-foot-high objects in a 45-foot-high space,” said Massimo Vignelli, recalling the 1972 Knoll Au Louvre exhibition. “We needed a catalyzing element to restore the reference from the object to its use.”
“Lella and I were searching for that catalyzer when I happened to turn my hand to a shelf behind me—there was a bunch of small plastic cubes there. All of a sudden it was very clear: I took the cubes, rolled them over the plans spread out before us, as if they were dice. Lella said, ‘that’s it.’”
Discover the story on Knoll Inspiration.
In Rishpon, Israel, architecture firm Studio de Lange used concrete slabs to define a modernist abode filled with art, sculpture, and Knoll furniture.
Discover the project on Knoll Inspiration.
PC: Amit Geron
Knoll designs feature prolifically in the movies, having appeared in both contemporary and classic cinema. When a production designer needs to convey a character’s good taste and discerning style or when they simply need an extremely handsome piece in a domestic or office setting, we’ll often spot a Knoll.
“If Knoll wants to have a piece of furniture designed, it’s often about asking international designers to collaborate,” explained Samir Bantal, director of OMA’s research arm, AMO. “You become a diplomat, almost, as a company—moving between different borders and cultures before the final product exists.”
OMA highlights the value of cross-border design in the Pan-European Living Room, an installation at the London Design Museum. Discover the project on Knoll Inspiration.
“When designing for a company like Knoll, one continuously wonders how to place new ideas into such an iconic collection,” said designers Barber and Osgerby. “Our new Pilot chair not only responds to today’s needs, but offers an elegant, innovative design for a different culture.”
The Frost House is a 1958 prefab design in Michigan City, Indiana, filled with original Knoll furniture. For its new inhabitants (and their dog, Banksy) it has prompted equal parts restoration and research.
Discover the story on Knoll Inspiration.
Photo: Bob Coscarelli
We sat down with the founder of Wright Auction, Richard Wright, to discuss the longevity of mid-century modern and the future of bidding in the Internet age.
Read the full interview on Knoll Inspiration.
Image courtesy of Wright.