Walter Knoll Boa Fabric Armchair Blue
View Similar Items
Walter Knoll Boa Fabric Armchair Blue
About the Item
- Creator:Walter Knoll (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 27.56 in (70 cm)Width: 32.29 in (82 cm)Depth: 29.53 in (75 cm)
- Style:Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:Unknown
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Cologne, DE
- Reference Number:Seller: 17232-c51stDibs: LU2706326238032
Walter Knoll
Inspired by the Bauhaus — founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius — Walter 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.
- Walter Knoll Black Leather Armchairs, Line Jason, Austria, 1997By Walter KnollLocated in Paris, FRFour Walter Knoll armchairs line Jason (1997) design by the Austrian studio EOOS, in black grained leather with anodized aluminum structure. The armchairs are in like new- condition...Category
1990s Austrian Modern Armchairs
MaterialsAluminum
- Knoll Sessel 369 for Walter KnollBy Knoll, Walter KnollLocated in Belmont, MAWalter Knoll Sessel 369 for Walter Knoll Underframe of tubular steel, yellowish plush fabric, 1956.Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
$1,760 Sale Price20% Off - Walter Knoll Turtle Chair in STOCKBy Walter Knoll, PearsonLloydLocated in New York, NYOn the outside, the bucket is a success with its clean sweeping vital lines; inside, a second, comfortably upholstered bucket is perfect for relaxing. Turtle is easy to swivel with a...Category
2010s European Chairs
MaterialsFabric
$495 Sale Price81% Off - Suite of 4 Walter Knoll “Turtle” Armchairs – in Lime Green FabricLocated in Barrowford, GBHello Friends, and welcome to another unmissable offering from Lord Browns Furniture, the UK’s premier resource for fine Sofas and Chairs. On offer on this occasion is a rare suit...Category
2010s Chairs
MaterialsFabric
- Preben Fabricius & Jørgen Kastholm "Bird" Armchairs Model-FK672 for Walter KnollBy Jørgen Kastholm & Preben Fabricius, Walter KnollLocated in The Hague, NLArmchairs- office chairs designed by Preben Fabricius & Jørgen Kastholm for Walter Knool International manufacture in 1960s period Denmark. Model no: FK6725 as well as mostly called...Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsAluminum
- Pair of Walter Knoll “Vostra” Chairs for Knoll, Germany, 1947By Knoll, Walter KnollLocated in Amsterdam, NLA rare pair of “Vostra” chairs designed by Walter Knoll, manufactured by Knoll in Germany around 1947. A highly recognizable chair after Jens Risom...Category
Vintage 1940s German Chairs
MaterialsMetal