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Walter Knoll Living Room Sets

German

Inspired by the Bauhaus — founded in 1919 by Walter GropiusWalter Knoll decided to bet big on modernism. He launched his eponymous German furniture maker in 1925, and the company has been going strong ever since.

Most design lovers are familiar with Knoll, the manufacturer of furniture by Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and other modernist giants. It was founded by Hans Knoll in 1941 and led after his death by his wife, Florence Knoll, the doyenne of postwar American office interiors. In recent years, the company has added collections by Maya Lin, Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry and David Adjaye, among others, and encouraged customers to do what some of them had been doing all along: use Knoll’s “office furniture” at home.

Fewer Americans are familiar with Walter Knoll, the company Hans’s father founded in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1925 and later moved to nearby Herrenberg. That company has existed in the shadow of the larger U.S.-based Knoll for decades.

Both companies descended from the German manufacturer of ornate leather goods established by Wilhelm Knoll in 1866. In 1907, Wilhelm’s sons, Willy and Walter, took over the father’s business and started producing leather club chairs. Five years later, the company introduced its Nestra line of stripped-down wood and leather seating, foreshadowing the family’s future innovations.

In 1925, when he was 50, Walter Knoll launched the Walter Knoll Company, which soon released the revolutionary Prodomo line of chairs, whose upholstered seats and backs are supported by tubular metal frames. Other lightweight Walter Knoll pieces were used in the passenger compartment of the Hindenburg zeppelin.

In 1927, Walter Knoll furnished five apartments designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for the Weissenhof Estate, 21 prototypes of “workers’ housing of the future” constructed as part of an exhibition in Stuttgart. A decade later, Walter’s son Hans, then 24, traveled to the United States to market his father’s furniture and to make a new life for himself in the New World. But inspired by his encounters with Jens Risom — a Danish-born designer who furthered Scandinavian modernism in the United States — Hans broke away from Walter, creating Knoll Associates (now known simply as Knoll). Florence Schust (later to become Hans’s wife) joined him in the company in 1943, and soon they were working with mid-century modern icons such as Saarinen and Bertoia on new designs and licensing Mies’s Barcelona chair.

After the war, with his factories destroyed and labor and materials in short supply, Walter Knoll turned to Hans for help. Hans sent over several pieces from his Vostra line, designed by Risom. Walter replaced the web seats with upholstery and launched his version of the Vostra at the New Living exhibition in Cologne in 1949. It became hugely successful, persuading many Germans still accustomed to traditional furniture to give modernism a go.

Walter Knoll retired in 1964, but his namesake firm continued growing in Germany. Just like the American Knoll, Walter Knoll has found that some customers want to use pieces originally meant as office furniture in their houses. In fact, these pieces give living and dining rooms a crispness that almost no residential furniture can match.

Find vintage Walter Knoll lounge chairs, sofas, tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.

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Creator: Walter Knoll
Danish Vintage Living Room Set, Mod 710 by P. Fabricius for Walter Knoll, 1972.
By Preben Fabricius, Walter Knoll
Located in Eindhoven, Noord Brabant
The Walter Knoll Fabricius Armchair and Sofa Model 710-10 are a design by Preben Fabricius. This originally Danish designer designed the Fabricius Model 710-10 set as early as 1972. ...
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1970s Danish Scandinavian Modern Vintage Walter Knoll Living Room Sets

Materials

Steel

Rare Cubic Livingroom/Sofa Set by Walter Knoll, 1970s
By Walter Knoll
Located in Schagen, NL
This wonderful set consists of a two seat sofa, an armchair and a coffee table and was manufactured in Germany during the 1970s. However the designer remains unknown, the name of ...
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1970s German Mid-Century Modern Vintage Walter Knoll Living Room Sets

Materials

Leather, Wood

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H 31 in W 30.5 in D 31 in
Desk Office Armchair Designed by Walter Knoll, 1970s
By Walter Knoll, Rudolf Bernd Glatzel
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Ensembles Salon Walter Knoll en vente sur 1stDibs.

Ensembles Salon Walter Knoll en vente sur 1stDibs. Chacun de ces objets a été crées avec soin, souvent en utilisant le bois. Il existe de nombreuses options parmi lesquelles choisir dans notre collection de ensembles salon Walter Knoll, bien que les versions marron de cette pièce soient particulièrement populaires. De nombreuses ensembles salon crées par Walter Knoll ont été réalisées dans le style mid-century modern en allemagne courant années 1970 Si vous recherchez des options supplémentaires, de nombreux clients considèrent également ensembles salon par et Verner Panton. Les prix des ensembles salon Walter Knoll peuvent varier en fonction de la taille, de la période et d'autres attributs - sur 1stDibs, ces articles commencent à 4 110 € et peuvent aller jusqu'à 4 110 €, tandis qu'une pièce comme celles-ci, en moyenne, s'élève à 4 110 €.

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