COPYRIGHT © 2018 Designer Furniture Ltd. | Management by Rak Design, Florence Knoll Retro Leather 2 Seater Sofa, Florence Knoll Retro Leather 3 Seater Sofa, Florence Knoll Dark Brown Leather Armchair, Florence Knoll Tan Brown Leather Armchair, Florence Knoll Dark Brown Leather 2 Seater Sofa, Florence Knoll Black Leather 2 Seater Sofa, Florence Knoll Tan Brown Leather 2 Seater Sofa, Florence Knoll Dark Brown Leather 3 Seater Sofa, Florence Knoll Tan Brown Leather 3 Seater Sofa. [12] Knoll stated that she was not a furniture designer, perhaps because she didn't want her furniture pieces to be viewed on their own but rather as an element of her holistic interior design. She was born in Saginaw, Michigan as “Florence Schust” and is known in familiar circles simply as ‘Shu’. She managed to attract Knoll's considerable stable of designer talent by paying commissions and royalties and ensuring credit for designs.[3]. Knoll was the first to use the method for interior design presentation. The 601 Madison Avenue label dates the dresser to before 1950, the year Knoll moved to 575 Madison. The pairing led to success as Florence Knoll helped Hans Knoll turn what was a small furniture company into an international powerhouse. Her furniture was designed with the notion of transforming architecture into furniture, which she achieved by translating the structure and language of the modern building into a human-scaled object. Famously, Knoll asked Saarinen to design a chair that was "like a great big basket of pillows that I can curl up in," resulting in his classic Womb chair. Before Knoll's influence Interior decoration was mostly a non-professional pursuit, typically practiced by hobbyists. [3], Florence Knoll created the interior design service of Knoll Associates (The Knoll Planning Unit) in 1943 and directed its activities until 1965, the unit closed down 1971. Unlike Harry Bertoia, who created a single collection, Eero Saarinen produced numerous designs for Knoll that became inextricably linked to the history of the famous furniture company. [5] Knoll persuaded her former teacher, Mies van der Rohe, to give Knoll the rights to the Barcelona Chair which he had designed with Lilly Reich in 1929. We also have set of small 3-dawer dressers / night tables of the same provenance. Within three years, Florence had founded the now world-famous Knoll Planning Unit and become Hans Knoll’s wife and full business partner. Knoll was renowned for her how she communicated and presented the designs of the Knoll Planning Unit through what she referred to as "paste-ups". She and Hans Knoll were married in 1946, when she became a full business partner and the company became known Knoll Associates, Inc.[7]. It was kind of a radical ideal, but it was also logical and obvious. The results of these collabs include design icons like the Tulip Table, the Barcelona chair, and the Diamond Chair, respectively. … Florence Knoll Bassett is an American and was born in 1917 and like many of her peers, studied architecture and industrial design before turning her hand to designing great furniture pieces. [14][4] In the 1940s office decoration had been dominated by antique and period styles. Bassett. Apr 18, 2021 - Here you'll find Knoll's most famous designs and images here and there of the designer herself. Wassily Chair by Marcel Breuer (1925) Now here’s a piece that was ahead of its time. In 1956, Knoll introduced Eero Saarinen's tulip chairs and pedestal table. Since Knoll thought about longevity of their products, surfaces were covered with transparent protective layer. She returned to Michigan in 1936 to undergo surgery and enrolled in the architecture department at Cranbrook again. [9][8][10] Knoll Showrooms and retailers expanded internationally, by 1960 the company was doing $15 million dollars of business annually. [11], Knoll and her Knoll Planning Unit has been credited with revolutionizing office design and environments, replacing antique styles and haphazard arrangements with the signature "Knoll Look," marked by rationalized space plans, modern furniture, sleek geometries, and an integration of structure, color, and texture. AP. Oct 9, 2015 - Discover everything that is Knoll including our latest news, inspiring history, company timeline and designer biographies. Knoll also advanced the science of office design, not just decorating the space, but analyzing the client's work requirements and designing functional spaces that would meet these needs. [1], Knoll attended Kingswood School for Girls (1932-1934), part of the Cranbrook Educational Community in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. [11] Knoll was aware of the shift she was creating; in an interview with the New York Times in 1964, Knoll stated, "I am not a decorator... the only place I decorate is my own house. The Planning Unit at first designed Knoll Showrooms, arranging furniture and accessories to showcase the firm's designs and demonstrate how to use the furniture, Knoll Showrooms became an essential part in convincing clients to adopt Knoll's modernist aesthetic. Together they designed a home which integrated interior and exterior, sparking her interest in architecture and bringing her to the attention of Eliel Saarinen, the Cranbrook Academy of Art President. From 1936-37, she explored furniture-making with Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames. [4], After graduating, Knoll moved to New York in 1941, taking jobs with several New York architects, including Harrison & Abramovitz. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Very rare 4-drawer dresser designed by Florence Knoll for Knoll International. Florence Knoll Lounge Chair. This "softer modernism" with color and organic shapes, which was also practiced by Charles and Ray Eames as well as Eero Saarinen, was more appealing to a general public. ARCO FLOOR LAMP by FLOS. Her modernist aesthetic was known for clean lines and clear geometries that were humanized with textures, organic shapes, and colour. Modern Classics Furniture manufacturers and sells Bauhaus Modern, Scandinavian Modern and Mid-Century Modern furniture inspired by the great Iconic designs of the time. However, she stayed in charge of design for all of Knoll until 1965. Eero Saarinen's Womb Chair was designed in 1947-1948 at the request of Florence Knoll. Knoll had the sculptor, Harry Bertoia spend two years in his studio to see if he could translate his metal work into furniture resulting in his well known wire chairs. She also was awarded honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Vermont (2004), the University of Miami (1995), and the University of Minnesota (2008). Corey Gutch has a thing for midcentury Modern design. Florence Marguerite Schust was born in Saginaw, Michigan, to Frederick Emanuel (1881–1923) and Mina Matilda (Haist) Schust (1884–1931), and was known in familiar circles as "Shu". She redesigned conference tables into a boat-shape so that people could see one another to accommodate group discussions. [4] Knoll provided extensive education and mentoring to the designers that worked under her, and many of the Knoll Planning Unit designers went on to found interior divisions at architectural firms such as SOM. 1943: Joins Knoll Furniture Company full time; 1946: Establishes and becomes Director of the Knoll Planning Unit; company reorganized to become Knoll Associates, Inc.; Post-World War II building boom begins and old Cranbrook friends are enlisted to design furniture; Hans and Florence get married. Knoll was one of the first to make this differentiation, frustrated at the title of interior decorator especially in its gendered connotation and concomitant lack of status and respect. Knoll designed furniture when the existing pieces in the Knoll collection didn't meet her needs. Florence Marguerite Knoll Bassett (née Schust; May 24, 1917 – January 25, 2019) was an American architect, interior designer, furniture designer, and entrepreneur who has been credited with revolutionizing office design and bringing modernist design to office interiors. Perhaps the most iconic piece of furniture in the collection, the Saarinen Table, was designed by Eero Saarinen himself. Florence Knoll Bassett is an American architect and furniture designer who studied under the likes of Mies van der Rohe and Eliel Saarinen. Encouraged by the designs and elements used by the Eameses, Jacobson soon started to go from the world of architecture to furniture design in the 1950s, fulfilling a diversity of fashionable and light chairs of which famous pieces such as the Egg Chair would reach the test of time. In 1943, she joined the Hans Knoll's company and founded their interior design service, the Knoll Planning Unit. She sold the companies to Art Metal Construction Company in 1959, though continued on as president of all three companies until 1960. Knoll felt architects should contribute their design ability to furniture as well, and she brought her international connections, designer friends, and former teachers to Knoll. Knoll’s most famous product by far is the Barcelona Chair which was designed for the 1929 International Fair in Barcelona, Spain. After visiting, Knoll recalls feeling the Cranbrook educational community was the right place for her. It had previously only been applied to the home, spaces like offices were not typically professionally planned or designed. In 1985 she was inducted into the Interior Design Hall of Fame and in 2002 President George W. Bush presented her with the nation's highest award for artistic excellence, the National Medal of Arts. [4] The Knoll showrooms embodied their humanized modern designs, showing customers how to use their new furniture. Knoll's design approach was profoundly influenced by Mies, resulting in clarified designs with rigorous geometries. [4] Knoll used the paste-ups to convey the feeling and experience of the space, in the pictured example the color and texture of the materials used better represented the humanized modernism that was essential to Knoll's designs. Architectural Association School of Architecture, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, "A Finding Aid to the Florence Knoll Bassett Papers, 1932-2000", "Florence M Schust; 1920 United States Federal Census", "Florence Knoll Bassett, 101, Designer of the Modern American Office, Dies", "Obituary: Florence Knoll Bassett, 1917-2019", "Knoll Bassett [née Schust], Florence | Oxford Art", 10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T2087850, "Woman Who Led an Office Revolution Rules an Empire of Modern Design; Florence Knoll Gave Business 'Living' a New Look", "Knoll Textiles - Biography - People - Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum", "Connecticut General Life Insurance Company (1957)", "Harry Hood Bassett b. Knoll also tapped artists to create furniture, such as Isamu Noguchi, whose cyclone table (1950) became a Knoll replica. [6] In 1940, she moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and worked briefly as an unpaid apprentice for Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. As an employee of Knoll, Florence spearheaded a number of collaborations with famous designers she’d met during her Cranbrook years, including Eero Saarinen, Mies van der Rohe, and Harry Bertoia. She often employed floating open-riser staircases and multilevel interiors, drawing on her architectural background. Florence knoll furniture,Florence knoll sofa, Florence knoll chair, Discover (and save!) She worked to professionalize the field of interior design, fighting against gendered stereotypes of the decorator. Florence Marguerite Knoll Bassett (née Schust; May 24, 1917 – January 25, 2019) was an American architect, interior designer, furniture designer, and entrepreneur who has been credited with revolutionizing office design and bringing modernist design to office interiors. See more ideas about florence knoll, knoll, florence. [8][11] The Unit completed over 70 office interiors, including the offices of major American companies such as IBM, GM, Look magazine, Seagram, Heinz, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, and CBS. [7] Knoll and Saarinen had to work with a fiberglass boat builder in order to manufacture the chair. Designer Furniture Ltd20-22 Wenlock RoadIslingtonLondonN1 7GUTel: 0800 170 1228, This site uses cookies. She is known for her open office designs, populated with modernist furniture and organized rationally for the needs of office workers. To her, the most important aspect to consider was how well a certain piece could fit into the greater design in question – such as the room, the floor, or even the entire building. [19], She married Hans Knoll in 1946; he died in a car crash in 1955. The distinctive features of Florence Knoll's furniture … The Florence Knoll Armchair, Knoll Coffee Table and Knoll Sofa are considered to be Florence Knoll's most famous designs in the Bauhaus Era. [6], From 1940-1941, Knoll furthered her architectural educations under leading figures of the Bauhaus movement. When Hans Knoll died in a car accident in 1955, Florence Knoll took over as president of all three Knoll companies (Knoll Associates, Knoll Textiles, and Knoll International). The distinctive features of Florence Knoll's furniture designs were the sleek silhouettes and geometries. "[7] She took this stance to differentiate the titles of an interior decorator and an interior designer. Florence Knoll Bassett is an American and was born in 1917 and like many of her peers, studied architecture and industrial design before turning her hand to designing great furniture pieces. There she was mentored by Rachel de Wolfe Raseman, the art director at Kingswood. May 6, 1917 Flint, Michigan d. 1991: Bassett Family Association", Official site of the Knoll Design Company, A Finding Aid to the Florence Knoll Bassett Papers in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Florence_Knoll&oldid=1018070537, Wikipedia articles with RKDartists identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Modernizing interior design for offices and workplaces, This page was last edited on 16 April 2021, at 03:41. Transcript of interview with F. Knoll Bassett, n.d., pg. [3], Knoll radically transformed interior space planning creating a "total design" or "Bauhaus approach" where interior architecture, furniture, lighting, textiles, and art were integrated. When Hans Knoll died in 1955, Florence went on to run the company – an unprecedented move for a woman in the 1950s. We make every product we sell by designers such as Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Poul Kjaerholm, Florence Knoll. [8] Afterwards she continued the partnership, moonlighting as a designer for the Hans G. Knoll Furniture Company, which included designing their showroom. Knoll saw an opportunity, when she realized that most office spaces were not professionally designed: In those days the boss usually had a decorator. [4] There she enjoyed the focus on studio work and was influenced by Le Corbusier's International style. In 1960, she moved to Florida with her second husband, Harry Hood Bassett. Florence Knoll had the benefit of studying under the great Mies Van Der Rohe and also Eliel Saarinen, the father of the more widely known Eero Saarinen. In 1958 she married Harry Hood Bassett, the son of Harry H. Knoll’s legacy as the matriarch of modernism is well documented, and rightfully so. [8] Knoll replaced the old executive desk with light and sleek modern designs, as well as straightening its diagonal positioning. Famous Hairpin Stacking Table was an obvious example of Florence’s first escape from regular forms. In 1938, Hans Knoll founded his furniture company by that name in New York. The preparation and training of interior designers earned the Planning Unit the moniker "Shu U" after Knoll's nickname. Her Florence Knoll tables, chairs, sofas, and desks all combine rich materials in a highly functional medium. Office Furniture London are dedicated to sourcing Vintage office designed Mid Century modern furniture, made by the most famous designers of the 20th century: Harry Bertoia, Florence Knoll, Charles & Ray Eames, Hans Wegner, Arne Jacobsen, Marco Zanuso, Gae Aulenti, Joseph-André Motte, Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe… 9, Knoll Archives. So when I came along with my questionnaire, I wanted to know what they needed. She left as World War II was spreading. Knoll and her husband, Hans Knoll, built Knoll Associates into a leader in the fields of furniture and interior design. [20] On 25 January 2019, Florence Marguerite Knoll Bassett died at age 101 in Coral Gables, Florida.[3]. [6] The unit created some of the most innovative design for office interiors during the post-war period, largely due to Knoll's design aesthetic of humanized modernism, in which Knoll brought color and texture to interiors inspired by modernism, making them more comfortable for everyday use. "[14], One of Knoll's main challenges was convincing executives and the public to adopt a modernist aesthetic. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. The Planning Unit typically ran on a very small team, typically only 8 designers and 2 drafters on staff, and even as the volume of projects dramatically increased, the staff only grew to around 20 employees. [7] Work spaces were made to be more open with sitting areas for informal discussion. She described her pieces as the "meat and potatoes," the filler among the flashier pieces in the Knoll collection. Tessin made arrangements for Knoll to attend boarding school. Her furniture was designed with the notion of transforming architecture into furniture, which she achieved by translating the structure and language of the modern building into a human-scaled object.[18][16]. The reproduction Florence Knoll Sofa is one of our best-selling product.And we have 13 years Replica Knoll Furniture production experience.All the Replica Knoll Furniture sell to the all world. She worked to professionalize the field of interior design, fighting against gendered stereotypes of the decorator. [1] Frederick Schust was born about 1882 in either Switzerland or Germany, was a native German speaker, and the 1920 United States Federal Census describes him as the superintendent of a commercial bakery. Inspired by … [5][16] A "paste-up" was a general graphic-arts term for any draft or finished mechanical flat art, traditionally using an adhesive commonly used in fashion and set design. Florence Knoll In the 1950s, almost everybody knew Florence Knoll and her absolutely popular Florence Knoll Sofa. Clearly exhibiting “form follows function”, the Arco Floor Lamp is a … Her paste-ups were small representational plans of the space with fabric swatches, wood chips and finishes attached to represent furniture and other details. Florence Knoll had the benefit of studying under the great Mies Van Der Rohe and also Eliel Saarinen, the father of the more widely known Eero Saarinen. An installation called “Florence Knoll Bassett: Defining Modern” was shown in a contemporary design gallery at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2004. The company has from then on started producing and manufacturing modernist furniture that is highly appreciated and in demand even today. [5] Florence Knoll was the design force and Hans Knoll was entrepreneurial and charismatic. She was born Florence Schust. As part of her work with the Planning Unit, Florence frequently contributed furniture designs to the Knoll catalog. If he finds something affordable from a designer he loves, whether it’s furniture or a collectible, he snaps it up for his Capitol Hill condo. Architect, furniture designer, interior designer, entrepreneur — Florence Knoll had a subtle but profound influence on the course of mid-century American modernism.Dedicated to functionality and organization, and never flamboyant, Knoll shaped the ethos of the post-war business world with her polished, efficient design and skillfully realized office plans.