Florence Knoll
Florence Knoll
USA, 1917
Born Florence Schust in 1917, and orphaned at age 12, Knoll began her architectural studies at the Kingswood School in Michigan and was virtually adopted by the family of Eliel Saarinen. She continued her studies at Cranbook Academy of Art, the Architectural Association in London, and the Illinois Institute of Technology under Mies van der Rohe, where she received her architectural degree. In 1946, she married Hans Knoll, owner of the Hans G. Knoll Furniture Company and the firm became known as Knoll Associates, Inc.
As an architect, interior space planner, and furniture designer, Florence Knoll defined the look and market for modern design in corporate America in the 1950s and made modern American design an international style. Her pioneering interiors profoundly influenced post-World War II design. Her reductive aesthetic of light, open spaces furnished with elegant woven fabrics, furniture grouped for informal conversation and brightly colored wall panels made Knoll one of the most influential design firms of the time.
Her notable planning projects for the firm included the interior design of the CBS, Seagrams, and Look magazine offices in New York City. After her husband’s death, Florence served as president and continued as design director of the company until 1965 when she resigned to pursue a career as a freelance designer.
Florence Knoll
Florence Schust was born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1917 and orphaned at twelve. She studied at the Cranbrook Academy under Eliel Saarinen and later with Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In 1941 she moved to New York, where she met Hans Knoll, who was building his furniture company. They married in 1946.
Florence created the Knoll Planning Unit, which brought modern space planning to American corporate offices. The Planning Unit worked with IBM, General Motors, and CBS, applying architectural thinking to interior environments rather than treating furniture as decoration. Florence described her own furniture designs as the "meat and potatoes" of the Knoll catalog. Her lounge chairs, sofas, benches, desks, and credenzas are architecturally proportioned and formally restrained. She led the company as president after Hans Knoll's death in 1955 and retired in 1965. She lived to 101.
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