Why We Love Knoll Furniture
Florence Knoll is one of our design heroes. In the early 1940s, she convinced founder Hans Knoll to work with architects to expand into interior design, pushing the company to ever greater success despite a wartime economy. In 1946, Hans and Florence married and renamed the company Knoll Associates. At a time when most women weren’t commonly participating in business ventures, Florence was managing the Knoll Planning Unit. She developed new ideas for modern office spaces, creating comprehensive designs with harmonious flow and efficiency. Florence and her collaborators designed Knoll’s signature interior spaces including offices for IBM, General Motors and CBS.
A Fun Fact About Knoll
When movie set designers want to convey a sense of modern design and luxury, they turn to Knoll. Since the early 1950s, dozens of films have featured these iconic pieces, such as the Barcelona Chair placed in M’s apartment in the Bond film Casino Royale (2006), the Brno Chair in Bruce Wayne’s lake house in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) or the pink Womb Chair in Barbara Novak’s apartment in Down with Love (2003).
Noteworthy Products from Knoll
Knoll’s design roster reads like a who’s-who of modern design icons: Harry Bertoia, Florence Knoll, Warren Platner, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, Richard Schultz and more. Many of these designs set the standards for mid-century modern furniture, from Van Der Rohe’s instantly recognizable Barcelona Chair, to Bertoia’s Diamond Lounge Chair, the Platner Dining Table, the Saarinen Dining Table and the 1966 Collection. Today, Knoll's lighting and furniture continues with a standard of excellence, with collaborations from Antenna Design, Formway Design, Don Chadwick, David Adjaye and Rem Koolhaas.
