Warren Platner Lounge Chair in Zebra Hide
View Similar Items
Warren Platner Lounge Chair in Zebra Hide
About the Item
- Creator:Knoll (Manufacturer),Warren Platner (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 30 in (76.2 cm)Width: 36 in (91.44 cm)Depth: 24 in (60.96 cm)Seat Height: 22 in (55.88 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. The steel has slight wear. The zebra hide upholstery is brand new.
- Seller Location:SAINT LOUIS, MO
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1701218628902
Warren Platner
Though vintage Warren Platner chairs, sofas and interiors are icons of mid-century modernism, the architect and furniture designer took his stylistic inspiration from as far back as 18th-century France, once saying about his seminal collection for Knoll that his design intent was to evoke “the kind of decorative, gentle, graceful kind of design that appeared in period style like Louis XV.”
Indeed, the marriage of modern sensibility and classical grace is a marker of Platner’s style across furnishings and interiors — both genres in which he left an enduring legacy.
Born in 1919 in Baltimore, Maryland, Platner studied architecture at Cornell before cutting his teeth working for design icons like Eero Saarinen and Kevin Roche, eventually serving as head of interior design in the latter’s office. In 1965, Platner opened his own office, in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he continued to hone his particular brand of graceful modernism.
Knoll released the Platner Collection of seating and tables in 1966. (Originally designed in 1962, the suite took nearly four years of development to bring to life.)
The decorative bent-metal-and-glass pieces — an armchair, a dining table and more — make certain nods to the trademarks of his former employers, but also to the shapes of historic European furniture. The sculptural elegance of his line recalls Saarinen’s iconic Tulip collection, which includes armchairs and dining tables, while his materiality aligns with Roche’s cutting-edge use of glass and metal for the headquarters of the Ford Foundation in New York.
Many of Platner’s Knoll pieces would go on to find homes in a certain fabled locale: the Windows on the World restaurant at the original World Trade Center, whose interiors Platner was tapped to outfit in the mid-1970s. Upon the opening of the restaurant in 1976, New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger dubbed its style “sensuous modernism” — an apt tagline for Platner’s oeuvre as a whole.
Platner died in 2006 at the age of 86. His furniture is still produced by Knoll, and original examples — along with idiosyncratic custom works he created for interior design clients — are coveted by collectors today.
Find vintage Warren Platner furniture on 1stDibs.
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.
- Warren Platner Lounge Chairs, Restored in Loro Piana Leather and Linen, PairBy Knoll, Warren PlatnerLocated in SAINT LOUIS, MOIcons. Released by Knoll, Platner’s lounge chair lends mid-century cool to any room. The famous lounge chair is created by welding curved steel rods to circular and semi-circular fra...Category
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Warren Platner Easy Lounge Chair and Ottoman in Dedar Mohair VelvetBy Warren PlatnerLocated in SAINT LOUIS, MOAn icon! Released by Knoll, Platner’s large Easy Chair lends mid-century cool to any room. The iconic lounge chair is created by welding curved steel rods to circular and semi-circul...Category
2010s American Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Vintage Nanna and Jorgen Ditzel Ring Lounge Chairs in Zebra HideBy Nanna and Jørgen DitzelLocated in SAINT LOUIS, MOA very cool pair of sculptural Danish chairs. Restored in zebra hide. Manufacturer Søren Willadsen, Denmark Date 1958 Dimensions 32 W x 28 D x 25.5 H in Material Teak, upholster...Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Lounge Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Upholstery, Teak
- Forsyth Bespoke Eero Saarinen Womb Chair in ZebraBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in SAINT LOUIS, MOA favorite of the Forsyth design team! We have an incredible collection of vintage chairs and design icons waiting for a new life. Our upcycled Womb Chairs are some of our most popul...Category
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsZebra Hide
$16,800 / item - Forsyth Bespoke Eero Saarinen Womb Chair and Ottoman in ZebraBy Knoll, Eero SaarinenLocated in SAINT LOUIS, MOA favorite of the Forsyth design team! We have an incredible collection of vintage chairs and design icons waiting for a new life. Our upcycled Womb Chairs are some of our most popul...Category
2010s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsZebra Hide
- Forsyth Ottoman in Zebra HideLocated in SAINT LOUIS, MOA new addition to our Originals collection. This bespoke ottoman is perfect for a variety of uses, ottoman, coffee table, bench at the end of a bed, et...Category
2010s American Ottomans and Poufs
MaterialsSteel
$4,450 / item
- Warren Platner Easy Lounge Chair and OttomanBy Knoll, Warren PlatnerLocated in Brooklyn, NYLuxurious model 1705 easy lounge chair and ottoman, designed by Warren Platner for Knoll. Zinc steel wire rods are bent and welded to form a graceful...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsZinc
- Pair of 1960s Warren Platner Lounge Chairs in French Boucle'By Knoll, Warren PlatnerLocated in Dallas, TXWe have a beautiful set of 1960s lounge chairs. Platners first made their debut in 1966. Steel-rod construction with nickel-plate. We have reupholstered in a plush heavily textured a...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsNickel, Metal
- Pair Warren Platner Lounge ChairsBy Warren PlatnerLocated in New York, NYPair Warren Platner lounge chairs. The chairs have brown upholstery with a nickeled steel frame.Category
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
$17,000 / set - Platner Lounge Chair, designed 1966 by Warren Platner for Knoll InternationalBy Warren Platner, KnollLocated in Wargrave, BerkshireOriginal 1960s Platner Lounge Chair, designed 1966 by Warren Platner and manufactured by Knoll International. This iconic chair is made of moulded fibreglass covered in the original...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Pair of Warren Platner Lounge Chairs for KnollBy Knoll, Warren PlatnerLocated in Paris, FRPair of Warren Platner lounge chairs for Knoll.Category
Vintage 1960s American Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel
$13,413 / set - Warren Platner Easy Lounge Chair for Knoll, 1980sBy Warren Platner, KnollLocated in Aachen, NWEarly Easy Lounge chair by Warren Platner for Knoll. The groundbreaking Easy chair was designed in the 1960s by Warren Platner and produced by Knoll in the early 1980s. This mid-ce...Category
Mid-20th Century American Lounge Chairs
MaterialsAluminum