Designer
Florence Knoll
Florence Knoll (née Schust, 1917–2019) was an American architect, interior designer, furniture designer and entrepreneur. Born in Saginaw, Michigan and orphaned at twelve, she was sent to the Kingswood School at Cranbrook, where Eliel…
Biography
Background
Florence Knoll (née Schust, 1917–2019) was an American architect, interior designer, furniture designer and entrepreneur. Born in Saginaw, Michigan and orphaned at twelve, she was sent to the Kingswood School at Cranbrook, where Eliel Saarinen and his family took her under their wing. She went on to study with Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Signature Style
As head of the Knoll Planning Unit, she approached furniture with the whole space in mind. Her pieces are architectural rather than sculptural: she scaled down the rhythm and details of modern buildings and humanised them with colour and texture, producing designs Knoll describes as "all simple, none plain."
Notable Works
- Florence Knoll Lounge Collection (sofa, settee and lounge chair, 1954)
- Florence Knoll Credenza, Table Desk and Executive Desk
- Florence Knoll Coffee and End Tables, Bench and Hairpin Stacking Table
Legacy
With Hans Knoll, whom she married in 1946, she grew Knoll into an international arbiter of modern design and persuaded architects such as Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia and Mies van der Rohe to design for the company. The Planning Unit defined the modern corporate interior of post-war America for clients including IBM, GM and CBS. She led Knoll after Hans Knoll's death in 1955 and retired in 1965; she received the National Medal of Arts.
