Designer Spotlight

Stephen Knollenberg Is Not Just Another East Coast Designer

Stephen Knollenberg founded his eponymous interior design firm in 2002, basing it in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham. Portrait by Lisa Spindler. Top: A living room in Bloomfield Hills, also a suburb of Detroit, features a James Brooks oil painting above the sofa and a Soane slipper chair near a collection of green, opalescent Moser Glassworks vases purchased at the 1stdibs Gallery at 200 Lex, in New York. Photo by Beth Singer

The son of Republican former congressman Joe Knollenberg, who represented the northern suburbs of Detroit for 16 years, Stephen Knollenberg could have followed his father into public service. Indeed, he studied political science at Boston University and walked past the school’s fine-arts building every day, Knollenberg recalls, “but I didn’t have a clue what the students inside were doing.”

Knollenberg had always loved design, however. Growing up in a mid-century house, he insisted on vetting his mother’s furniture choices, banishing pieces that didn’t suit the architecture. So after a few years in a family insurance business, he decided he had to satisfy his creative side. He asked Brian Killian, a prominent Detroit-area decorator, for a job, and got one, sorting swatches for $10 an hour. “There was a whole wall of fabric samples, hundreds of them, and after they came down, I had to put them back up in some semblance of order,” Knollenberg recalls today.

Far from resenting the menial job, he says, he felt he was getting an education. “Pretty soon I knew not only which fabrics looked good together, but what they were made of, how they would wear — it was a wealth of information.” Before long, Killian trusted Knollenberg with clients he didn’t have time for, and the soft-spoken young man found he could “listen to people, find out what they want and acknowledge that, but then maybe get them some place even better.”

Knollenberg was also attentive to the business side of interior design and after years of “seeing the money flying over my head” as an employee, he decided to open his own firm, Stephen Knollenberg Inc., in 2002. Since then, he has created some of the most elegant interiors in Michigan and, increasingly, in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., where he impresses clients with his ability to fill rooms with a sophisticated mix of old and new and high and low, all while giving each piece both its own space and a prominent position. His motto ought to be “No crowding.”

Knollenberg has made Round Hill, his 1940s cottage in Michigan’s Saugatuck, a lab for testing new design ideas. Here, an antique French Directoire settee, which converts to a chaise, is placed in front of the den’s gridded window. Photo by Beth Singer

Left: Elsewhere in the lake house, a suede and sailcloth drape functions as a partition in the paneled living room. A framed collection of antique wooden chains hangs on the wall. Right: In the kitchen, an antique English buffet rests on a floor made of walnut rounds set in concrete. Three charcoal drawings by Theresa Gray hang above the buffet. Photos by Beth Singer

Left: In the foyer, an upholstered settee keeps company with a table by Antonio Criterio; the painting is by Bill Jensen. Right: The sitting area in another Michigan residence, this one in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham, features a 19th-century Dutch chandelier, a pair of John Saladino upholstered lounge chairs and an antique English Regency side table. Photos by Beth Singer

Gauze draperies surround the white-painted outdoor area of a house in Key West, Florida. The sculpture resembling bicycle handlebars is made of black and white marble. Photo by Dana Hoff

Left: A 1960s collage by Robert Goodnough hangs above a Christian Liaigre bed in the Key West home’s master suite. Right: A ’70s barrel chair and teak ceiling fan by Boffi complete the office of the island home. Graphic black-and-white Moroccan tiles adorn the floor. Photos by Dana Hoff

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris vestibulum eleifend tellus, non condimentum mi vestibulum eu. Curabitur feugiat ipsum a metus ultricies non pulvinar ante.

Knollenberg hired Paris’s Ateliers Charles Jouffre to wrap the millwork in the Bloomfield Hills library with the same gray flannel fabric used in the sofa. Edelman Leather flooring and agate sconces by Marjorie Skouras finish the space. Photo by Beth Singer

Detroit, recovering from years of steep decline, may seem like an odd setting for a high-end design firm. But, as Knollenberg somewhat wistfully points out, well-heeled suburbs like Grosse Pointe, Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham, where he is based, have not suffered the fate of Detroit proper. “There has been a line at 8 Mile” — the traditional border between the haves and have-nots — “for so long, it’s almost like we watched the city decline from afar,” he says. True, the region has experienced ups and downs tied to the fate of the auto industry, but he says they aren’t that different from the ups and downs of the financial industry in New York or the entertainment business in L.A.

And there are many things that make Detroit a terrific place to work. One is the influence of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, which produces a steady stream of talented designers. (Knollenberg buys as many pieces by Cranbrook students as he can.) Another is the presence in Michigan of companies like Knoll and Herman Miller, which means flea markets are filled with mid-century treasures. (And what he can’t find there, he often finds on 1stdibs.)

A third is the accessibility of Saugatuck, an artsy town with white sand beaches on Lake Michigan. Knollenberg has a house there, called Round Hill, that has not only been a retreat but a laboratory for trying out design ideas. Originally conceived as an all-American Midwestern cottage, the house is gradually becoming more cosmopolitan, as Knollenberg adds pieces like a cantilevered floor lamp made of leather-wrapped metal by French Deco designer Jacques Adnet. He also recently acquired a chair by Cranbrook graduate Kyle Fleet mostly made of rope and “more conceptual than practical,” he says. “You can sit on it, but it’s very springy.” What the pieces have in common are distinctive silhouettes, which Knollenberg makes sure people will notice. Indeed, a key to his designs is the way he places objects with graphic qualities against light backdrops — like a calligrapher working on crisp white stationery.


Knollenberg excels at “listening to people, finding out what they want and acknowledging that, but then getting them someplace even better.”


In a New York pied-à-terre, Knollenberg added accents in “bullfighter red” to fulfill his clients’ request to make the interiors “pop.” He found the Richard Serra charcoal artwork above the red cabinet at the 1stdibs Gallery at 200 Lex, and the hanging light fixture is Bec Brittain’s Maxhedron. A photograph by Cranbrook graduate Brittany Nelson hangs above a dining banquette. Photo by Antoine Bootz

Left: Tracey Kendall’s stitched-cardstock wallpaper covers the foyer of the New York pied-à-terre, right behind a custom Randolph & Hein console table. The bronze lamp is by Tondelli. Right: In the living room, which overlooks the Carlyle Hotel, an Hervé Van Der Straeten marble-and-bronze table lamp sits by the sofa, with a monolithic table by Lona Design in the foreground. Photos by Antoine Bootz

The pied-à-terre’s bedroom contains a Maxine Snider chest, Lee Jofa drapery and a circular bronze figure from Gerald Bland. The photograph by Christopher Sharples was purchased through Evergreen Antiques. Photo by Antoine Bootz

Left: In Knollenberg’s room in a showhouse mounted by the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., an antique Ming chair sits by the plasterwork fireplace. Right: Donald Sultan’s Gold Flower presides over a green velvet sofa by Lewis Mittman in the Kennedy Center room. Photos of Gordon Beall

A penthouse living room has polished concrete floors and dramatic views of Lake Michigan in the distance. Photo by Beth Singer

 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris vestibulum eleifend tellus, non condimentum mi vestibulum eu. Curabitur feugiat ipsum a metus ultricies non pulvinar ante. Maecenas imperdiet urna id libero dapibus vitae lacinia tortor elementum.

In Key West, Knollenberg placed a high-back chair by Swedish designer Marten Cyren at a 19th-century British Colonial desk. His clients collected the shelves’ artifacts while traveling in Papua New Guinea. Photo by Dana Hoff

That skill is in evidence at a ’50s beach bungalow in Key West, which his clients tasked him with refurbishing. The job entailed keeping the house’s bones but smoothing out its skin, producing a canvas on which the designer could “paint.” One corner of the master bedroom shows Knollenberg at his best, with an exaggeratedly tall Windsor chair from Stockholm paired with a British colonial desk, its base a Botero to the Swedish chair’s Giacometti. Shelves next to the desk display masks, headdresses and other artifacts collected by the clients in Papua New Guinea, each one an exquisite doodle.

Behind the house, Knollenberg added a large, covered terrace — it feels like an outdoor room — where the kind of black lines he favors crop up in the upholstery fabric.

When another client bought a New York pied-à-terre, Knollenberg began gathering objects to display there, including a pair of lumpy metal-glazed ceramic brackets by artist Eve Kaplan and an even chunkier coffee table, a solid block of mahogany from Toronto’s Lona Design. But this time he didn’t stick to his usual palette. Given his clients’ request that he make the interiors “pop,” Knollenberg added a number of accents in “bullfighter red.” The color appears in sofa cushions; the leather face of a cabinet in the foyer, made by Manhattan’s Roman Thomas; and a tour de force by London’s Tracy Kendall, who layers scraps of paper into what is less wallpaper than wall sculpture. “I’ve always wanted to use her work, but I needed the right place for it,” says Knollenberg. In front of the papered wall, a console from Randolph & Hein adds a sculptural wisp of macassar ebony and white lacquer.

Knollenberg travels to shop — from Manhattan’s Upper East Side to Palm Springs. But he always comes home to Detroit, a place he believes has given him opportunities equal to those he would have found on either coast. “There’s nothing I could do out there,” he says from his base in Michigan, “that I haven’t done here.”


Stephen Knollenberg’s Quick Picks on 1stdibs

Aldus Melt oak box, 2013, offered by Maison Gerard
Shop Now
Aldus Melt oak box, 2013, offered by Maison Gerard

“Whatever you’re putting in here, it needs to be special.”

Eve Kaplan ceramic mirror, 2014, offered by Gerald Bland
Shop Now
Eve Kaplan ceramic mirror, 2014, offered by Gerald Bland

“Eve Kaplan’s work is inspiring to me. The classical forms she creates are familiar to us, but the materials she uses are not.”

Maison Charles Cascade sconces, 1970, offered by 3details
Shop Now
Maison Charles Cascade sconces, 1970, offered by 3details

“I love a shot of the 1970s in a room today. It feels timeless, like a good Halston dress.”

Achille Salvagni Giò cabinet, 2013, offered by Maison Gerard
Shop Now
Achille Salvagni Giò cabinet, 2013, offered by Maison Gerard

“Achille pushes boundaries in lighting and furniture today. The contemporary marquetry in this cabinet is fantastic.”

Neoclassical recamier, 18th century, offered by Newel
Shop Now
Neoclassical recamier, 18th century, offered by Newel

“Something old, something new — I would love to see this piece in a contemporary room.”

Pair of lounge chairs in the style of Jean Royère, mid-20th century, offered by Thomas Gallery
Shop Now
Pair of lounge chairs in the style of Jean Royère, mid-20th century, offered by Thomas Gallery

“These chairs have great élan, so sculptural and strong.”

Hervé van der Straeten Athéna table lamp, 2012, offered by Maison Gerard
Shop Now
Hervé van der Straeten Athéna table lamp, 2012, offered by Maison Gerard

“Simple and chic. I put a pair of these lamps in a sitting room, and they stole the show.”

Pair of Jacques Quinet side tables, 1960s, offered by Judy Frankel Antiques
Shop Now
Pair of Jacques Quinet side tables, 1960s, offered by Judy Frankel Antiques

“These tables are good jewelry for a living room.”

Jacques Adnet Skai screen, 1940s, offered by Bernd Goeckler Antiques
Shop Now
Jacques Adnet Skai screen, 1940s, offered by Bernd Goeckler Antiques

“Whether it’s a small table, a magazine rack or something larger like this screen, Adnet’s stitched-leather pieces work dressed up or dressed down.”

Alvar Aalto brass floor lamp, 1957, offered by Constantin Von Haeften Design
Shop Now
Alvar Aalto brass floor lamp, 1957, offered by Constantin Von Haeften Design

“A great find. It’s amazing that this is 1957.”

Loading next story…

No more stories to load. Check out The Study

No more stories to load. Check out The Study