Pair of Florence Knoll / Knoll Light Orange Upholstered Settees
About the Item
- Creator:Knoll (Designer),Florence Knoll (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 29 in (73.66 cm)Width: 48 in (121.92 cm)Depth: 29 in (73.66 cm)Seat Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:Mid-20th Century
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:
Knoll
As a company that produced many of the most famous and iconic furniture designs of the 20th century, Knoll was a chief influence in the rise of modern design in the United States. Led by Florence Knoll, the firm would draw stellar talents such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Eero Saarinen into its compass. Their work would help change the face of the American home and office.
The company was formed in 1938 by the German immigrant Hans Knoll. He first worked with his fellow ex-pat, the Danish designer Jens Risom, who created furniture with flowing lines made of wood. While Risom served in World War II, in 1943 Knoll met his future wife, Florence Schust. She had studied and worked with eminent emigré leaders of the Bauhaus, including Mies, Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. She won Knoll over with Bauhaus notions of industrial arts, and an aesthetic that featured flat and tubular metal frames and angular forms. When Hans died in a car crash in 1955, Florence Knoll was appointed head of the company. It was as much through her holistic approach to design — a core division of the firm was dedicated to planning office systems — as Knoll's mid-century modern furnishings themselves that she brought about the sleek and efficient transformation of the American workplace.
Today, classic Knoll furnishings remain staples of modern design collections and decor. A history of modern design is written in pieces such as the elegant Barcelona chair — created by Mies and Lilly Reich — Saarinen’s pedestal Tulip chair, Breuer’s tubular steel Wassily lounge chair and the grid-patterned Diamond chair by Harry Bertoia.
As you can see from the collection of these designs and other vintage Knoll dining chairs, sofas and tables on 1stDibs, this manufacturer's offerings have become timeless emblems of the progressive spirit and sleek sophistication of the best of modernism.
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: Long Island City, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 2 days of delivery.
- Florence Knoll for Knoll International American Mid-Century Orange Upholstered LBy Knoll, Florence KnollLocated in New York, NYAmerican mid-century lounge armchair with textured orange fabric upholstery, resting on four broad tapered wooden legs. (FLORENCE KNOLL FOR KNOLL I...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Fabric, Wood
- Florence Knoll for Knoll International Beige Fabric Upholstered Lounge ArmchairBy Knoll, Florence KnollLocated in New York, NYAmerican mid-century lounge armchair with beige textured fabric upholstery and matching antimacassars, resting on four broad tapered wooden legs.(FLORENCE KNOLL FOR KNOLL INTERNATIONAL)Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsFabric, Upholstery, Wood
- Pair of French Louis XVI Giltwood Beige Upholstered Canapes / SetteesLocated in New York, NYPair of French Louis XVI (18th Century) canapes / settees with a curved and carved giltwood frame with a circular panel in the backrest, which curves forward to create the settee\'s ...Category
Antique 18th Century French Louis XVI Sofas
MaterialsFabric, Upholstery, Wood, Giltwood
- Florence Knoll for Knoll International Brown Fabric UpholsteryBy Knoll, Florence KnollLocated in New York, NYAmerican Mid-Century rectangular museum bench with a brown fabric upholstered square channeled seat resting on a square chrome tube frame. (FLORENCE KNO...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Ottomans and Poufs
MaterialsMetal, Chrome
- Pair of Florence Knoll White Laminate and Walnut Square Nightstands / End TablesBy Knoll, Florence KnollLocated in New York, NYPair of American mid-century square nightstands / end tables with white laminate tops above a walnut base with a single drawer, resting on four squar...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Night Stands
MaterialsWood, Laminate, Walnut
- Pair of Florence Knoll for Knoll International Brown Marble End / Side TablesBy Florence KnollLocated in New York, NYPair of American mid-century square end / side tables with brown marble tops resting on square steel bases with four square legs. (FLORENCE KNOLL FOR KNOLL INTERNATIONAL)(PRICED AS P...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsMarble, Metal, Steel
- Florence Knoll, Sofa "Parallel Bar" for Knoll, 1954 / 1960. Newly upholstered.By Florence Knoll, KnollLocated in Paris, FRLovely Two seat sofa model 52 also known as ‘Parallel Bar’ designed by Florence Knoll in 1954 and produced by Knoll International from 1955 to 1973 This sofa is an edition from the v...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsSteel, Chrome, Metal
- Florence Knoll Sofa for Knoll InternationalBy Knoll, Florence KnollLocated in Los Angeles, CAA classic mid-century tufted sofa by Florence Knoll Sofa for Knoll International c.1950s, USA. It can easily be floated in the center of a room as the b...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsSteel, Chrome
- Midcentury Florence Knoll Style Settee by PatricianBy Patrician Furniture Co, Florence KnollLocated in New York, NYOriginally made in the 1970s, this two-seater settee by Patrician Furniture Company takes after the iconic Florence Knoll sofa, with its combination of angular and soft lines. The se...Category
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern Settees
MaterialsChrome
- 2022 Florence Knoll Two Seat Settee / Loveseat Sofa in Green LeatherBy Knoll, Florence KnollLocated in Philadelphia, PAThis is a two-seater ‘Florence Knoll’ settee sofa, model 1205S2. The piece was originally designed by Florence Knoll in 1954. This example dates to 2022, and is upholstered in its or...Category
2010s American Modern Sofas
MaterialsSteel
- Florence Knoll Parallel Bar Sofa for KnollBy Florence Knoll, KnollLocated in Philadelphia, PAFlorence Knoll Parallel Bar Armed Sofa. Newly reupholstered in a great weave fabric in shades of red, gray and purple. Very solid and subst...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsStainless Steel, Metal
- 1949 Florence Knoll Associates 26 BC Upholstered 3-Seater Sofa New UpholsteryBy Knoll, Florence KnollLocated in Philadelphia, PAListed for sale is a 1949 Florence Knoll for Knoll Associates 26 BC upholstered 3-seater sofa, which was just freshly reupholstered by Forthright, a renowned upholstery shop based in...Category
Vintage 1940s American Modern Sofas
MaterialsFabric