Florence Knoll Model 31 Lounge Chair
About the Item
- Creator:Florence Knoll (Designer),Knoll (Manufacturer)
- Design:Florence Knoll Lounge ChairLounge Series
- Dimensions:Height: 29 in (73.66 cm)Width: 24.5 in (62.23 cm)Depth: 24 in (60.96 cm)Seat Height: 17 in (43.18 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1955-1960
- Condition:Reupholstered. Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. Minor fading. Good overall condition. The faux cat print upholstery was a later addition with some minor areas of wear. The metal frame has some minor enamel losses. The glides show minor signs of light pitting and rust. Structurally sound and sturdy.
- Seller Location:Garnerville, NY
- Reference Number:
Florence Knoll Lounge Chair
It doesn’t get more timeless or starkly modern than the boxy chrome-footed Florence Knoll lounge chair.
Designed in 1954 by Florence Knoll Bassett (1917–2019) for the legendary furniture manufacturer Knoll Inc. that she helped establish with her husband Hans Knoll, the chair is representative of all her signature gestures, from the sturdy construction to the button tufting, and like the rest of her work, it embodies the very essence of modernism.
In many ways, Knoll was destined to become a household name. Orphaned at a young age, she was enrolled at Kingswood School, part of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, which became home to many stars of mid-century modern design. She later flourished in her architecture studies with Bauhaus masters like Marcel Breuer and others. Knoll was a protégé of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at Columbia University’s School of Architecture, and her lounge seating, with its clean architectural lines, takes cues from her mentor.
Deeply inspired by the Bauhaus and its belief in melding art with industrial techniques, Knoll revolutionized the workplace. “Every time you see Barcelona chairs and a table in a lobby, that’s her [influence],” Kathryn Hiesinger, a curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, told the New York Times.
When Knoll designed this chair as part of her lounge series, which included a sofa, she called it “meat and potatoes” furniture and believed she was merely filling a need. While there’s no disputing the utilitarian properties of her classic pieces, they’re geometrically striking objects. The Florence Knoll lounge chair — with its low seat height and simple profile — would work in any setting, and Knoll was equally versatile. It’s hard to imagine modernism without her.
Florence Knoll
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 postwar business world with her polished, efficient design and skillfully realized office plans.
Knoll had perhaps the most thorough design education of any of her peers. Florence Schust was orphaned at age 12, and her guardian sent her to Kingswood, a girl’s boarding school that is part of the Cranbrook Educational Community in suburban Detroit. Her interest in design brought her to the attention of Eliel Saarinen, the Finnish architect and head of the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Saarinen and his wife took the talented child under their wing, and she became close to their son, the future architect Eero Saarinen. While a student at the academy, Florence befriended artist-designer Harry Bertoia and Charles and Ray Eames. Later, she studied under three of the Bauhaus masters who emigrated to the United States. She worked as an apprentice in the Boston architectural offices of Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer; Ludwig Mies van der Rohe taught her at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
In 1941, she met Hans Knoll, whose eponymous furniture company was just getting off the ground. They married in 1946, and her design sense and his business skills soon made Knoll Inc. a leading firm in its field. Florence signed up the younger Saarinen as a designer, and would develop pieces by Bertoia, Mies and the artist Isamu Noguchi. Her main work came as head of the Knoll Planning Group, designing custom office interiors for clients such as IBM and CBS. The furniture Florence created for these spaces reflects her Bauhaus training: the pieces are pure functional design, exactingly built; their only ornament from the materials, such as wood and marble. Her innovations — the oval conference table, for example, conceived as a way to ensure clear sightlines among all seated at a meeting — were always in the service of practicality.
Since her retirement in 1965, Knoll received the National Medal of Arts, among other awards; in 2004 the Philadelphia Museum of Art mounted the exhibition “Florence Knoll: Defining Modern” — well deserved accolades for a strong, successful design and business pioneer. As demonstrated on these pages, the simplicity of Knoll’s furniture is her work’s great virtue: they fit into any interior design scheme.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Garnerville, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 2 days of delivery.
- Mid-Century Modern Streamlined Bucket ChairsBy Craft Associates, Craft Associates Inc., Adrian PearsallLocated in Garnerville, NYA wonderful pair of streamlined Mid-Century Modern lounge chairs. Re-upholstered in a dark gray nubby fabric. Featuring a cozy contoured shape, bow tie stretcher base with tapered wo...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Ash
- Knoll Eero Saarinen Model 71 IBM Executive ChairBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in Garnerville, NYA nice example of a Eero Saarinen Model 71 Executive armchair fro Knoll International. This particular chair came directly from the IBM offices in the Poughkeepsie, New York campus. ...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsSteel, Chrome, Nickel
- Hollywood Regency Era Lounge ChairBy William Billy Haines, James Mont, Dunbar Furniture, Billy BaldwinLocated in Garnerville, NYLuxurious Hollywood Regency Era upholstered armchair. Reupholstered in new Crypton sage green crushed velvet and cushions. Crypton fabric is one of the mos...Category
Vintage 1940s American Hollywood Regency Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Upholstery, Velvet, Foam, Wood
- 1940s Moderne Bow Arm Lounge ChairBy Gilbert Rohde, Donald Deskey, Heywood-Wakefield Co.Located in Garnerville, NYLate 1940s bow arm lounge chair. Reupholstered in a nicely textured gray fabric. Custom black painted wood frame. Great lines and profile. Stretcher base and t...Category
Vintage 1940s American Hollywood Regency Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Wood
- Angular Mid Century Modern Slant Arm Lounge ChairBy Kroehler Mfg. Co., Dunbar FurnitureLocated in Garnerville, NYA very sexy chair! Compact and angular, but due to the lines and subtle curves it gives the appearance of a much larger chair. A chair with, most importantl...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Club Chairs
MaterialsBrass
- Iron Frame Butterfly Chair Frames, A PairBy Knoll, Jorge Ferrari-Hardoy, Bonet, Kurchan, and HardoyLocated in Garnerville, NYA very good and early pair of iron frame butterfly sling chairs. The original design dates to the late 1930s and rediscovered and produced by Knoll years later. Covers not included. ...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsIron
- Red Florence Knoll Lounge ChairsBy Florence Knoll, KnollLocated in Palm Springs, CAA pair of vintage Florence Knoll lounge chairs on steel bases. We have these totally refurbished and re-upholstered in red Maharam Messenger fabric. The bases have been polished, and...Category
20th Century American Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Florence Knoll Model 65 Slipper Lounge Chair, 1956By Florence Knoll, KnollLocated in Dronten, NLSlipper chair designed in 1955 by Florence Knoll and produced by Knoll International. Model No. 65, produced from 1955-1973. We bought this chair directly from the family who bough...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsChrome
- Pair of off White Leather and Stainless Steel Lounge Chairs by Florence KnollBy Florence Knoll, KnollLocated in Palm Springs, CABeautiful 1950’s off white leather with parallel bar stainless steel legs lounge chairs designed by Florence Knoll for Knoll. This came out o...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsStainless Steel
- Lounge Chair Model 31 by Florence Knoll Bassett for Knoll International Set of 2By Florence KnollLocated in Kelkheim (Taunus), HEFlorence Marguerite Knoll Basset was one of the most renowned American designers and architects of the 20th century. In 1954 she designed the model 31 armchair, which has developed i...Category
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- 1960s Lounge Chair by Florence KnollBy Florence Knoll, KnollLocated in Sagaponack, NYA lounge chair formed by an armless button-tufted upholstered seat resting on a matte steel, rectilinear architectural frame.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Mid Century Florence Knoll Model 65 Slipper Lounge Chair Brown LeatherBy Florence Knoll, KnollLocated in BROOKLYN, NYVintage Mid Century original mid century Model 65 chairs by Florence Knoll for Knoll International. Classic great lines. The chrome bases are good shape...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsChrome