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Knoll, Inc.

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MillerKnoll, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryManufacturing
Founded1938; 86 years ago (1938)
FoundersHans and Florence Knoll
HeadquartersEast Greenville, Pennsylvania, United States
Area served
Global
Key people
Christopher M. Baldwin
COO and Group President, MillerKnoll[1]
ProductsDesigner furniture, office systems
ParentMillerKnoll, Inc. (2021–present)
Websiteknoll.com
millerknoll.com

Knoll (previously Knoll Inc.; now a subsidiary brand of MillerKnoll, Inc.) is an American company that manufactures office systems, seating, storage systems, tables, desks, textiles, and accessories for the home, office, and higher education.[2] The company is the licensed manufacturer of furniture designed by architects and designers such as Harry Bertoia, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, Florence Knoll, Frank Gehry, Charles Gwathmey, Maya Lin, Marcel Breuer, Eero Saarinen, and Lella and Massimo Vignelli,[3] under the company's KnollStudio division. Over 40 Knoll designs can be found in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.[4][5]

The Wassily chair by Marcel Breuer
Barcelona chair and ottoman by Lilly Reich and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

History

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The company was founded in New York City in 1938 by Hans Knoll. Production facilities were moved to Pennsylvania in 1950. After the death of Hans in 1955, his wife, Florence Knoll, took over as head of the company.[6] The company is headquartered in East Greenville, Pennsylvania and has manufacturing sites in East Greenville, Grand Rapids, Muskegon, and Toronto in North America; it also manufactures products in Foligno and Graffignana in Italy.[7]

In 2011, Knoll received the National Design Award for Corporate and Institutional Achievement from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.[8]

The acquisition of Knoll by Herman Miller was announced in April 2021 in a $1.8 billion deal. The merger closed in the third quarter of 2021.[9] The merged company is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market and trades under the symbol MLKN.

In July 2021, the company was rebranded as MillerKnoll.[10][11]

Many of the company's products are on permanent display at MoMA in NYC

Notable designers

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Designers who have worked for the company or whose designs are manufactured by Knoll include:[3][12]

Womb lounge chair and ottoman by Eero Saarinen
Saarinen table and chairs

Significant products

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Some of the company's products are included in museum collections, such as the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art.[17][18]

  • In 1948, Eero Saarinen designed the womb chair.[19]
  • In 1956, the company commissioned Eero Saarinen to design the Tulip chair for production.[20]
  • Following the production of the tulip chair, the tulip table was designed by Saarinen.
  • In 1953, the company was accorded exclusive manufacturing and sales rights to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe furniture, including the Barcelona chair, which was designed in collaboration with Lilly Reich for the 1929 Barcelona Pavilion. [1]
  • The company holds production rights to the Wassily Chair by Marcel Breuer.
  • In 1947, Knoll acquired exclusive U.S. production rights of the Hardoy chair ("Butterfly chair") by Jorge Ferrari-Hardoy. Cheaper imitations of the chair were also sold. Knoll took legal action in 1950, eventually losing its claim of copyright infringement; the model was dropped in 1951.[21][22] In 2018, Knoll released a 100th anniversary tribute to the Butterfly Chair.[23]
Butterfly chair
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Architecture preservation

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Knoll sponsors exhibitions, scholarships, and other activities related to modernist architecture and design. In 2006, Knoll and the World Monuments Fund, a New York-based non-profit organization, launched Modernism at Risk, an advocacy and conservation program. Modernism at Risk encourages design solutions for at-risk modernist buildings, provides funding for conservation projects, and raises awareness of threats to Modernist architecture through exhibitions and lectures.

The World Monuments Fund (also known as the Knoll Modernism Prize) is awarded to projects that preserve Modernist architecture every two years.

In 2008, the first Knoll Modernism award was given to Winfried Brenne and Franz Jaschke of the German firm Brenne Gesellschaft von Architekten for the restoration of the former ADGB Trade Union School building on the outskirts of Berlin. The school, built between 1928 and 1930, was a project of the Bauhaus design school. Its architects were Hannes Meyer, then director of the Bauhaus, and Hans Wittwer.[24]

The 2010 prize went to Hubert-Jan Henket and Wessel de Jonge, the founders of Docomomo International, for the restoration of Zonnestraal Sanatorium (estate) in Hilversum in the Netherlands.[25] The 2012 prize was given to a consortium of Japanese architects and academics for the restoration of Hizuchi Elementary School, which was built in the 1950s, on Shikoku Island, Japan.[26]

Similar companies

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Notes

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  1. ^ In April 2022 Jonathan Olivares joined Knoll as Senior Vice-President of Design.

References

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  1. ^ Knoll Our Experts Retrieved from MillerKnoll on 2022-09-29
  2. ^ "Markets". Knoll, Inc. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  3. ^ a b "Our Designers". Knoll. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  4. ^ "Behance". www.behance.net. March 2015. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  5. ^ "Knoll Associates, New York | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  6. ^ Fiell, Charlotte; Fiell, Peter (2005). Design of the 20th Century (25th anniversary ed.). Köln: Taschen. p. 388. ISBN 9783822840788. OCLC 809539744.
  7. ^ U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (March 3, 2014). "KNOLL, INC. Commission File No. 001-12907". SEC. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
  8. ^ "2011 National Design Awards: Corporate and Institutional Achievement — Knoll". Cooper–Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. 9 December 2011. Retrieved 20 March 2015. On December 1, 2016, Knoll announced the acquisition of the Buffalo, New York-based DatesWeiser Furniture Corporation.
  9. ^ "Furniture Maker Herman Miller to Acquire Knoll in $1.8B Deal". Detroit Business. April 19, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  10. ^ "Herman Miller and Knoll announce new name MillerKnoll". Dezeen. 2021-08-05. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
  11. ^ "Herman Miller and Knoll Announce New Name: MillerKnoll". www.knoll.com. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
  12. ^ a b Keh, Pei-Ru (2023-04-19). "Jonathan Olivares is working wonders at Knoll, as the brand's Salone pavilion attests". wallpaper.com. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  13. ^ Macdonald, Hugo (2024-11-12). "First Look: 'It's a chair that smiles at you,' says designer Bruce Hannah". Wallpaper. Retrieved 2024-11-27.
  14. ^ Bertoli, Rosa (2024-04-17). "Knoll presents Willo Perron sofa at Salone del Mobile 2024, 'a piece that can stay with you forever'". wallpaper.com. Retrieved 2024-06-01.
  15. ^ "Charles Pfister | Knoll". www.knoll-int.com. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
  16. ^ "Textile Design for Knoll by Angelo Testa". Asheville Art Museum. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 2023-07-30.
  17. ^ "Knoll Textiles | People | Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum". collection.cooperhewitt.org. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
  18. ^ "Florence Knoll Bassett: Defining Modern". philamuseum.org. Retrieved 2023-07-30.
  19. ^ Atomic dwelling : anxiety, domesticity, and postwar architecture. Schuldenfrei, Robin. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 2012. ISBN 9780415676083. OCLC 707965989.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  20. ^ Massey, Anne (2011). Chair. London: Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1780232492. OCLC 863199531.
  21. ^ Mann, Kristin McCartney (2018-08-21). "Butterfly Chair". Modern In Denver. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  22. ^ Klatt, Mary Beth (21 February 1999). "FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
  23. ^ "Salone 2018 Butterfly Chair". www.knoll-int.com. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  24. ^ "Architectuul: ADGB trade union school". 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  25. ^ "World Monuments / Knoll Prize for Modernism 2010. Zonnestraal Sanatorium (1928–1931)" (PDF). Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  26. ^ "World Monuments / Knoll Prize for Modernism 2012. Hizuchi Elementary School (1956–1958)" (PDF). Retrieved 19 November 2018.

Further reading

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  • McAtee, Cammie; Floré, Fredie (2017). "Knolling Paris: from the "new look" to Knoll au Louvre". In Floré, Fredie; McAtee, Cammie (eds.). The Politics of Furniture: Identity, Diplomacy and Persuasion in Post-War Interiors. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317020479.
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