Florence Knoll Furniture
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 organisation, and never flamboyant, Knoll shaped the ethos of the postwar business world with her skillfully realised office plans and polished, efficient designs for sofas, credenzas, desks and other furnishings.
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.
Florence Knoll's main work came as head of the Knoll Planning Group, designing custom office interiors for clients such as IBM and CBS. The furniture she 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.
Find vintage Florence Knoll sofas, benches, armchairs and other furniture on 1stDibs.
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Marble, Steel
1960s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Marble, Chrome
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Walnut
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Walnut
1960s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Marble, Chrome
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Marble, Chrome
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Leather
1960s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Marble, Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Fabric, Walnut
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Bouclé, Maple
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Maple
1980s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Slate, Chrome
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Iron
1960s American Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Wood
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Chrome, Steel
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Chrome
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel, Chrome
1960s American Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Metal
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Chrome
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Chrome
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Chrome
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Upholstery, Wood
1940s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Maple, Textile
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Stainless Steel
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel
1960s Italian Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Stainless Steel
1970s Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Marble
1970s American Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Stainless Steel
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Upholstery, Walnut
2010s German Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Metal
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel, Chrome
1960s Central American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Walnut
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Walnut
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Chrome
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Chrome
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Stone, Marble, Stainless Steel
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Walnut, Plywood
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Walnut
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Stainless Steel
Mid-20th Century Florence Knoll Furniture
Marble
1970s American Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel
1970s Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Marble
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Steel
Mid-20th Century European Mid-Century Modern Florence Knoll Furniture
Marble
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Upholstery, Walnut
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Mohair, Velvet, Walnut
1940s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Leather, Birch
1950s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Leather
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence Knoll Furniture
Laminate, Walnut