Set of Four Knoll Chairs

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.

Massimo Vignelli and Lella Vignelli’s legacy can be seen everywhere in the logos of Bloomingdale’s, Ford and American Airlines, among others. In addition to their work in branding, they were prolific creators of modernist home furnishings, products and interiors, and the duo’s collaborations, which span 50 years, have left a profound mark on design and wider visual culture.

After meeting in Italy, Lella (1934–2016) and Massimo (1931–2014) began working together in 1961 and a decade later formed Vignelli Associates in New York. A self-described “information architect,” Massimo was committed to streamlining complex ideas into clear, visually arresting forms. (Witness the graphic identity that he cocreated with Bob Noorda for the New York City Transit Authority as well as his influential 1972 subway map.) The Vignellis’ most recognizable piece, for example, may be the Handkerchief chair, a stackable office chair made of compression-molded plastic that has the look of a cloth floating in air. It was created for Knoll in 1983 after they designed the brand’s logo.

Evidence of the couple’s influence can also be found in their Saratoga line (1964), the first collection of lacquered furniture, which helped herald in the trendy “glossy” look of the decade (and beyond). When the Vignellis created the Poltrona Frau Interview chair in 1988 for an Italian television station, it became widely sought after, “which goes to show you the power of the TV media,” the couple once said. Much like their elemental graphic designs, the Kono (1984) and Pisa tables (1985) — both created for Casigliani — cull the form of the table down to geometric shapes.

Vignelli furniture is often labeled as Massimo Vignelli’s alone, though he fought to have Lella recognized for her work, even throwing away magazines that neglected to give her due credit. As he wrote of their lifelong collaboration in his book Designed By: Lella Vignelli: “It is not holding a pencil with four hands that makes a partnership; it is sharing the creative act and exercising creative criticism which is reflected in the end result.”

Find vintage Massimo and Lella Vignelli seating, tables and other furniture today on 1stDibs.