Walter Knoll Executive Desk, Germany, 1970
View Similar Items
Walter Knoll Executive Desk, Germany, 1970
About the Item
- Creator:Walter Knoll (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 29.14 in (74 cm)Width: 78.75 in (200 cm)Length: 29.14 in (74 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (In the Style Of)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1970
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Roosendaal, NL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU933015475742
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.
- Gianfranco Frattini Desk Model 530 Bernini Italy 1957By Gianfranco Frattini, BerniniLocated in Roosendaal, Noord BrabantStunning medium sized writing desk model 530 designed by Gianfranco Frattini and manufactured by Bernini, Italy 1957. This desk is made of nicely grained rosewood and cherrywood vene...Category
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsRosewood
- Alfred Hendrickx Custom Made Desk Belform Belgium, 1958By Alfred Hendrickx, BelformLocated in Roosendaal, Noord BrabantRare monumental conference desk made for a lawyer’s firm in the 1950s. Designed by Alfred Hendrickx and manufactured by Belform, Belgium 1958/1959. The la...Category
Vintage 1950s Belgian Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsWood
- Willy Van Der Meeren Desk by Tubax Belgium 1955By Willy Van Der Meeren, TubaxLocated in Roosendaal, Noord BrabantNice Industrial desk designed by Willy Van Der Meeren and manufactured by Tubax, Belgium 1955. This typical fifties Industrial desk has a very nice Industrial look with the black metal folded v structure...Category
Vintage 1950s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Joaquim Tenreiro Bloch writing desk Brazil 1965By Joaquim TenreiroLocated in Roosendaal, Noord BrabantBeautiful Bloch writing desk designed by Joaquim Tenreiro and manufactured in Brazil 1965. This desk was once used in the BLOCH EDITORES S.A. BUILDING, a well-known Brazilian publish...Category
Vintage 1960s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsRosewood
- Geraldo de Barros writing desk Unilabor Brazil 1956By Geraldo de Barros, UnilaborLocated in Roosendaal, Noord BrabantVery nice minimalistic small writing desk designed by Geraldo de Barros and manufactured by Unilabor, Brazil 1956. The desk is made up of three main parts. The black iron frame, rosewood finished top and the drawer cabinet. The drawer fronts have the characteristic white laminated finish with metal handles. Unilabor could use these same parts to create different furniture designs, following the company's standards. This approach was part of a methodical way of making things, and the design style was common to other factories of that time. The most unique idea was how they thought about the production process in an organised way. In very good condition with beautiful grain to the rosewood. The chair on the pictures is not included. Literature; Brazilian Modern Design Alberto Vicente Marcelo Vasconcellos 2017, page 264-281 The most profound conceptual experience in the production of modern furniture in Brazil was led by Geraldo de Barros, a major artist of the Concrete Art movement in the country. Interested in new technologies and processes, Geraldo's career was consistently permeated with artistic experiments, particularly in photography and painting. His affiliation with design was influenced by the "gute form" principle advocated by Max Bill. Bill was the founder of the Ulm School...Category
Vintage 1950s Brazilian Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsMetal
- Fabricius Kastholm FK711 Office Chairs Walter Knoll, Germany, 1971By Preben Fabricius, Jørgen KastholmLocated in Roosendaal, Noord BrabantLarge set of 8 office chairs model FK711 designed by Preben Fabricius and Jorgen Kastholm and manufactured by Walter Knoll, Germany 1971. These ...Category
Vintage 1970s Danish Scandinavian Modern Office Chairs and Desk Chairs
MaterialsStainless Steel
- Executive Desk, Corner Desk in Mahogany, Germany, 1970'sBy Johannes Andersen, Arne VodderLocated in Wiesbaden, DEBeautifully designed writing desk in teak. With a very distinct design this desks every wood surface has been given specific angles such as the tabletop, the unit with drawers as wel...Category
Mid-20th Century German Scandinavian Modern Desks
MaterialsMetal
- Vintage Walnut Executive Desk by Florence KnollBy Knoll, Florence KnollLocated in North Hollywood, CAAmazing vintage executive desk designed by architect and furniture designer Florence Knoll in the United States, circa 1960s. This iconic design...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsSteel, Chrome
- Executive Abbondi Desk, 1970s ItalyLocated in Los Angeles, CAStunning Italian executive desk in a dark Rosewood. Three pull-out drawers flank each side. Lockable drawers with original locks. Solid aluminum frame with unusual, rounded corners o...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsAluminum
- 1968 Executive DeskBy Warren PlatnerLocated in Hanover, MAExecutive desk formerly belonging to noted architect George M. Notter, (1933–2007) of the Boston firm Anderson Notter Finegold (now known as Finegold Alexander Architects). Current institutional memory at the firm suggests it was a special order from Herman Miller for the then new New York offices of MGM, however Herman Miller's archivist was unable to confirm. Styling, particularly the distinctive slim milled aluminum tracks through which the entire drawer carriage glides is clearly similar to Warren Platner's designs for Lehigh-Leopold which were then among the most costly of executive office furnishings. The bent flat bar chromed steel base with its distinctive pigeon toe splay is somewhat similar to a table base in Stow Davis' Electa Series, designed by Alexis Yermakov circa 1971. Walnut laminate top is very clean with no issues. One one corner edge shows a small separation. The only identifying markings are within the milled aluminum channel: G.P. F.I. 2 And the date Dec. 20, 1968. See image 18. Between the rectangular laminate top and the chrome base is a heavy blackened steel plate. Underneath the bent chrome pigeon toe feet are bars of a thick phenolic material which act as floor protector. We can have keys made to fit the two locking drawers. Tim Anderson...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Desks
MaterialsAluminum, Steel, Chrome
$6,500 - Italian Rattan Black Painted Wood Brass Handles Executive Desk 1970sLocated in Paris, IDFThis is a beautiful Italian rattan executive desk from the 1970s. The mix of rattan, black painted wood all around, and brass handles, is inspired by mid-century Italian icon Gabriel...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Walter Charak Macassar Ebony DeskBy Walter Charak, Charak Furniture CompanyLocated in Brooklyn, NYSexy one-drawer desk with extravagantly grained Macassar ebony surface on mahogany legs with brass stretchers and corner decoration. Has a raised drawer front detail, mirrored-imaged...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
MaterialsBrass
