Florence Knoll Desk and Charles and Ray Eames Chair
View Similar Items
Florence Knoll Desk and Charles and Ray Eames Chair
About the Item
- Creator:
- Dimensions:Height: 28.5 in (72.39 cm)Width: 48 in (121.92 cm)Depth: 26 in (66.04 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (In the Style Of)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:2000s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Good original condition. Various surface scratches and wear.
- Seller Location:Atlanta, GA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU871823335352
Florence Knoll
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 organization, and never flamboyant, Knoll shaped the ethos of the postwar business world with her polished, efficient design and skillfully realized office plans.
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. Her main work came as head of the Knoll Planning Group, designing custom office interiors for clients such as IBM and CBS. The furniture Florence 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.
Charles and Ray Eames
Charles Eames and Ray Eames were the embodiment of the inventiveness, energy and optimism at the heart of mid-century modern American design, and have been recognized as the most influential designers of the 20th century.
As furniture designers, filmmakers, artists, textile and graphic designers and even toy and puzzle makers, the Eameses were a visionary and effective force for the notion that design should be an agent of positive change. They are the happy, ever-curious, ever-adventurous faces of modernism.
Charles (1907–78) studied architecture and industrial design. Ray (née Beatrice Alexandra Kaiser, 1912–88) was an artist, who studied under the Abstract Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann. They met in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Detroit (the legendary institution where Charles also met his frequent collaborator Eero Saarinen and the artist and designer Harry Bertoia) and married the next year.
His technical skills and her artistic flair were wonderfully complementary. They moved to Los Angeles in 1941, where Charles worked on set design for MGM. In the evenings at their apartment, they experimented with molded plywood using a handmade heat-and-pressurization device they called the “Kazam!” machine. The next year, they won a contract from the U.S. Navy for lightweight plywood leg splints for wounded servicemen — they are coveted collectibles today; more so those that Ray used to make sculptures.
The Navy contract allowed Charles to open a professional studio, and the attention-grabbing plywood furniture the firm produced prompted George Nelson, the director of design of the furniture-maker Herman Miller Inc., to enlist Charles and (by association, if not by contract) Ray in 1946. Some of the first Eames items to emerge from Herman Miller are now classics: the LCW, or Lounge Chair Wood, and the DCM, or Dining Chair Metal, supported by tubular steel.
The Eameses eagerly embraced new technology and materials, and one of their peculiar talents was to imbue their supremely modern design with references to folk traditions. Their Wire chair group of the 1950s, for example, was inspired by basket weaving techniques. The populist notion of “good design for all” drove their molded fiberglass chair series that same decade, and also produced the organic-form, ever-delightful La Chaise. In 1956 the Eames lounge chair and ottoman appeared — the supremely comfortable plywood-base-and-leather-upholstery creation that will likely live in homes as long as there are people with good taste and sense.
Charles Eames once said, “The role of the designer is that of a very good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.” For very good collectors and thoughtful interior designers, a piece of design by the Eameses, the closer produced to original conception the better, is almost de rigueur — for its beauty and comfort, and not least as a tribute to the creative legacy and enduring influence of Charles and Ray Eames.
The collection of original Eames furniture on 1stDibs includes chairs, tables, case pieces and other items.
- Rosewood & Chrome Arc Desk and ChairBy Milo BaughmanLocated in Atlanta, GARosewood and chrome arc desk and chair, circa 1960s. Very heavy and well made. The chair is currently being reupholstered and can be completed in your fabri...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsMetal
$3,400 / set - Florence Knoll Walnut Chests or DressersBy Florence Knoll, KnollLocated in Atlanta, GAClean lined mid century walnut chests, designed by Florence Knoll for Knoll, circa 1950s. They offer a voluminous amount of storage with four deep drawers in each chest. They are pri...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Commodes and Chests of Drawers
MaterialsMetal
$3,500 / item - Travertine and Iron Coffee Table attributed to Florence KnollBy Knoll, Florence KnollLocated in Atlanta, GAClean Lined Travertine and Iron Coffee Table, attributed to Florence Knoll for Knoll, unsigned, American, circa 1960s.Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsTravertine, Iron
- Clean Lined Florence Knoll Walnut Dining TableBy Knoll, Florence KnollLocated in Atlanta, GAClean lined walnut dining table, designed by Florence Knoll for Knoll, American, circa 1950s. Signed with early Knoll label underneath. It has been cleaned and Danish oiled. It measu...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWood, Walnut
- Warren Platner for Knoll Nickel Lounge Chair Reupholstered in Your FabricBy Knoll, Warren PlatnerLocated in Atlanta, GASculptural modern lounge chair in nickel finish, designed by Warren Platner for Knoll, circa 1980s. Signed with Knoll label. This chair is currently being reupholstered and can be co...Category
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsMetal
- Selection of Modern Desk ChairsLocated in Atlanta, GASelection of Modern Desk Chairs, circa 1950's. From left to right, top to bottom, they are: 1) Italian woven rattan and black lacquered wood desk chair, circa 1950's. Marked Made In Italy. It measures 29.25"H x 20.75"W x 18"D x 17.5" seat height and is priced at $650. Pictured at top left in our first photo. 2) Hans Wegner teak armchair...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsChrome
$650 / item
- Charles and Ray Eames DCM ChairsBy Charles and Ray EamesLocated in West Palm Beach, FLA set of 6 Eames DCM Chairs Walnut seats and backs Good Grain pattern 1970s productionCategory
Vintage 1970s North American Chairs
MaterialsWalnut
- Charles and Ray Eames Pair of 'DAX' ChairsBy Charles and Ray EamesLocated in LAGUNA BEACH, CACharles and Ray Eames Pair of 'DAX' chairs The DAX chairs were designed by Charles and Ray Eames and was manufactured in the United States by Herman Miller in 1955. It is made fr...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsSteel
$5,500 / set - Charles and Ray Eames RARBy Charles and Ray EamesLocated in West Palm Beach, FLAn early Lemon yellow rocker with its original base. Manufacturer's Label and Date Stamp.Category
Vintage 1950s North American Rocking Chairs
MaterialsFiberglass
- Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller ChairsBy Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Napa, CAStep into the world of timeless design with the iconic creations of Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller chairs. Renowned for their i...Category
Mid-20th Century American Chairs
MaterialsMetal
$2,900 / set - Charles Ray Eames ChairsBy Charles EamesLocated in Chicago, ILEames for Herman Miller, rare upholstered LCM's original factory upholstery with tacks on underside. Few of these were ordered and were usually custom.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsMetal
$3,800 / set - Aluminium chair by Charles and Ray Eames, set of 2 chairsBy Charles and Ray EamesLocated in Porto, PTEA 116 chair designed by Charles and Ray Eames, in the late 50s. Blach steel teggs and grey leather upholstery. Functional , strong and elegant. A set of 2 chairsCategory
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsMetal
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
10 Trailblazing Female Designers
From pioneering visionaries to contemporary talents, get to know some of the most important women in design.
Remembering Design Visionary Florence Knoll Bassett (1917-2019)
A loving look back at the life and career of a doyenne of mid-century-modern style, who died last week at the age of 101.