Florence Knoll Lounge Chair, Knoll International, Cream White, USA.
About the Item
- Creator:Knoll (Designer),Florence Knoll (Designer)
- Design:Florence Knoll Lounge ChairLounge Series
- Dimensions:Height: 32 in (81.28 cm)Width: 32 in (81.28 cm)Depth: 32 in (81.28 cm)Seat Height: 17.5 in (44.45 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:2005
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Minor fading. Good vintage condition. Light age appropriate wear.
- Seller Location:Brooklyn, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU4190339355802
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.
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.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Brooklyn, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 1 day of delivery.
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