In 1963, Andrew Morrison and Bruce Hannah both graduated from Pratt Institute with their industrial design degrees. For several years after graduation, Morrison and Hannah pursued separate design work with companies in the greater New York area and gained valuable design and manufacturing experience. They did not begin their professional collaboration to design a new seating collection for Knoll until the late 1960s.
Andrew Morrison and artist Steve Gianakos were working on a chair with the possibility of selling it to Knoll. Bruce Hannah was asked to lend his knowledge of injection molded plastics and he agreed. Gianakos` desire to pursue art was greater than design and he left the chair project.
“Andrew said to me, “So Bruce, do you want to help me design a chair for Knoll?’ and I said, Sure.’ We formed a partnership and got a space at 27 Howard Street in Manhattan with 2200 square feet for ninety-seven dollars a month, and we went to work. With my manufacturing knowledge, it was very easy. We decided what we were going to do was make prototypes of the designs we were working on because if you show someone a working prototype, the question is, ‘Do you like it or not?’ The rest of it is answered. So that is what we did. The first one we did was an injection molded plastic chair. It was made with two side frames, a stretcher and a very simple seat and back made out of fabric. It self-assembled; no tools were needed.to assemble the chair. In terms of the design philosophy we developed, it was probably the cleanest, best thing we did because you could recycle it.”1
Their next design project would change the course of their lives. Morrison had owned a sailboat while he had worked on exhibits for Montreal Expo 67, and he recalled the mainsail retention slot of the sailboat’s elliptical extruded aluminum mast when the designers began to design a suspension seating system. They needed to build a prototype from their sketches, but where could they buy aluminum sailboat masts in New York City? They looked at the listings in the Manhattan phone book for marine supplies and located a store on Chambers Street near Broadway. There they found exactly what they were looking for and bought two. They walked up Broadway back to their studio with one under each arm.
“We didn’t want to cut them because they were so beautiful,” Hannah admits, “so the first prototype we made was two plywood end frames and the aluminum masts and we put slings in it and tried to figure it out.”2
Morrison and Hannah created durable slings with welting stitched into both ends of the sling, then this was slipped into the slot of the aluminum extrusions. They fabricated cushions and sitting in their prototype, they were impressed at how rigid the prototype was. They envisioned the end frames would also be aluminum and these could be die-cast and polished to give the frames a more finished look.
Joseph Marshall Parriott, a prominent industrial designer and president of the Industrial Designer Society of America was also the chairman of Pratt Institute’s Industrial Design Department.3 Both Morrison and Hannah were asked by Parriott to bring their working experience back to Pratt and teach classes. Parriott paid the designers another visit and he asked what they were working on. They showed him the suspension system prototype and explained the concept to be offered with aluminum end frames and stretchers in various lengths. Parriott was on the jury panel for the Alcoa Ventures in Design program, which was “…conceived as a way to recognize the work of young professional designers with ability and promise…[who] use aluminum in practical but innovative solutions to design problems.”4
Parriott said he would nominate them and speak with the three other equally prominent educators on the Ventures in Design panel, which helped ALCOA select the recipients. These recipients received a commission from the company, a cash award, needed materials and technical assistance from Alcoa’s design division. Morrison and Hannah felt they were on the cusp of a breakthrough, but then Parriott said something that stunned them.
“He said,” Hannah recalls vividly, ‘I have a friend, Jens Risom, who might be interested in doing this. I will introduce you.’ So, Jens came down to the studio impeccably dressed, and said, ‘Well, we really shouldn’t do this. You should contact Knoll.’”5
It was in the early months of 1970, and then the pace of events for Morrison and Hannah accelerated. At the recommendation of Jens Risom, the two designers contacted Knoll, and they were more than damn sure of themselves at this point.
“Our initial design philosophy” Hannah says, “was this: Design a chair for Knoll and retire. We did call Knoll once we had made some stuff and said, ‘We are the two best designers in the world. You should come talk to us.’ We believed it, by the way.”6
The first person to come down to their design studio on Howard Street was Robert Cadwallader, Knoll’s Vice President of Marketing. He respected Jens Risom’s referral, and would soon learn if there was any substance to the designers’ boast. In the eyes of Knoll, what separated the real designers from the dreamers was having the facilities to build prototypes and prove the designs. After shaking hands once inside the studio, Cadwallader asked them what they wanted to show him. They directed him to the prototype suspension sofa and invited him to sit. He was immediately struck by the appearance of the prototype and its comfort and support. He looked around their studio at all the machine tools, shelves of foam and bolts of fabric, then had some discussion with Morrison and Hannah. Bruce Hannah’s Rule of the Prototype was clearly at work. Finally, Cadwallader invited them to lunch.
Over lunch, Cadwallader said he was going to invite Cornell Deckert, the president of Knoll, to come to their studio to look at the prototype. Their dream of designing for Knoll was looking promising. During the next several weeks as they were completing other prototypes, they received news that had won the commission from the Alcoa Ventures in Design program.7 When Deckert did visit the studio with Cadwallader, Hannah’s Rule of the Prototype again came into play. Deckert saw Morrison and Hannah had a vision of the future, had the support of Alcoa to help them realize it and told Cadwallader to sign them up.
Don Albinson, Knoll’s Director of Design Development, also visited the studio and was impressed with the young designers’ furniture designs having inherent variants, knowledge of materials and manufacturing, carefully applied thought to minimizing assembly steps in production and stated belief their seating would be profitable for Knoll. More refined prototypes could be produced in their studio with aluminum components provided by Alcoa. Knoll could provide design assistance for development of the suspended cushions.
“Then we started defining everything we were doing,” Hannah says. “There was a lot of stuff going on. There was suspension seating, tables, and a prototype office chair [later] in 1971. We were interested in eliminating work and the assembling of furniture. We wanted to make things that could go together very easily and come apart easily, making things with less and do less damage. We were very proud we could make a four-seat sofa that would hold a thousand pounds, and it weighed 88 pounds.”8
By May of 1970 Morrison and Hannah had filed six design patents and two general patents the following month with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The internal design configuration of the aluminum extrusion went through changes as Knoll’s Design and Development group worked out the details to facilitate manufacturing and ensure durability of many years. Product development continued into 1971 with planned production of the first pieces by spring.
In June 1970, Knoll opened its New York showroom at 745 Fifth Avenue. The showroom was designed by Italian architect Gae Aulenti, who had designed the Boston showroom two years previously.9 On display among the pieces by Florence Knoll, Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinin, Warren Platner and others were Morrison and Hannah’s “…original elements of the seating designs…”10 These “elements” were prototypes the designers had made in their studio and transported to the new showroom for its grand opening.
Knoll introduced the Morrison-Hannah Collection on April 15, 1971.11 The first Knoll advertisement for the Morrison and Hannah seating collection appeared in the June 1971 issue of Interiors announcing, “Andrew Ivar Morrison and Bruce R. Hannah design for Knoll.” The ad showed the No. 2003 High Back Sofa, 2011 lounge chair, and No. 2013 Lounge Sofa. These were just three pieces of the extensive Morrison-Hannah Collection introduced in 1971, which also included 1, 2, 3 and 4-place benches, and tables.
Morrison and Hannah were just getting started, for to them the design possibilities of their furniture system was made possible by its modularity, and Knoll was willing to explore them all. Next came a collection of furniture designed for the residential market. These employed a fiberglass and vinyl sling held by the elliptical extrusion slots onto which was fitted the upholstered cushions with buttons. The chair, settee and sofa were each offered in 30 and 34-inch depth.12
“The armchair seating came about because Knoll wanted to sell them in airports and a lot of people bought it,” Hannah remembers. “Knoll came to us and said, ‘Can you design a plastic seat for it also?’ That was quite a challenge because we had done this group in soft seating. So, we said, ‘We will try to figure it out’—and we figured it out. That seat shell wasn’t injection molded—it was actually pressure-formed by Spec Plastics in Pennsylvania.”13
The Morrison and Hannah Airport Collection was introduced in January 197214 with the 2250 Series Molded Shell Seating Group added to a subsequent Price List. The molded shell concept was also adopted to the original lounge seating frame with extrusions.
There was also the “horizontal group” of benches and couches, even a 78-inch by 84-inch bed with bolsters for pillows. This group featured new cast aluminum legs to which were bolted the extrusions. All the couches, benches and bed had the same 17.25-inch height.15 By 1977, there were fifty-seven pieces of seating furniture in the Morrison-Hannah Collection.16
The prolific and seemingly tireless designers also focused the Morrison & Hannah minimalist design philosophy on the office chair. “As we developed a method for designing,” Hannah explained, “a strong point of view evolved—one that favors designing with as few parts as possible and using obvious connections. It is a point of view that takes manufacturing practices into account.”17
The 2300 series of chairs would be task chairs with two versions: secretarial and armchairs, all with the same cast aluminum base. The armchair featured a ribbon of cast aluminum that started underneath the seat, swept up and back to form the arms and then behind the back cushion. The chair varied by two different cushion upholstery details and with the armchairs with or without casters, size of the back cushion and its upholstery details. The aluminum base and arm could be ordered in a variety of fused epoxy colors, or polished aluminum finish. While they were designing and working on the prototypes for this chair, the two designers nicknamed it The Nifty Chair; their suggestion to Knoll Marketing was met with smiles and shaking heads. The Morrison & Hannah Office Seating Collection was introduced in 1973.18 Despite the utilitarian design of the 2300 series, the prices for the chairs were comparable to those for the Pollock executive chairs.19
In 1974, the Sourcebook for Interior Design published a ten-page supplement that showcased the entire Morrison Hannah furniture collection for Knoll. It featured the new Morrison/ Hannah Office System that included tables, desks and cabinets of predominantly maple butcherblock construction, with the tables in this collection having aluminum tubing legs secured to cast aluminum mounting flanges. Knoll’s Marketing department produced promotional literature for Morrison Hannah Office System that even included a poster, but this office system was short-lived.20
During 1975 and into 1976, Morrison and Hannah were tackling a more ambitious office system and they could not come to agreement as to what the configuration should be.
“We had been working on an office system and there was this divide,” Hannah says, “and we decided, ‘Well, we’re done.’”21 They called Cadwallader, who had been promoted to President in 1971, and informed him there would be no new Morrison-Hannah office system and their design partnership was at an end. This actually proved beneficial to Morrison, Hannah and Knoll. Knoll approached the designers separately and asked them to continue to pursue their vision independently. These efforts had to design for the evolving office and the needs of the workers there, anticipate trends and be able to adapt to them for the 1980s and beyond. The Hannah Desk System and Morrison System were years in design development but when introduced by Knoll became immensely successful and were specified for clients worldwide for many years.
The Morrison-Hannah lounge seating and multiple seating collections continued to be manufactured to 1984, with the office seating collection manufactured through 1989.22
“We were very lucky to have Knoll as a client,” Hannah says, “who basically said, ‘Buy whatever you need and send us the bill.’ It was thrilling to have someone believe what you were doing was important and valuable. That was quite extraordinary. We had a great time and it was an amazing moment that we treasure.”23
(All images, unless otherwise stated, are from The Morrison/Hannah Collection 1973 brochure; Courtesy Knoll, Inc.)
1. Bruce Hannah interview with the author, October 27, 2023.
2. Hannah interview.
3. William H. Honan, “Joseph Marshall Parriott, 79, an Industrial Designer and Teacher.” The New York Times, March 19,2020.
4. Aluminum Company of America. “A Suspension Seating System by Andrew Ivar Morrison and Bruce R. Hannah.” Ventures in Design No. 6. Interiors (August 1970).
5. Hannah interview.
6. Ibid.
7. Christine Rae, Knoll au Louvre. (New York: Chantcleer Press, 1971).
8. Hannah interview.
9. Eric Larrabee and Massimo Vignelli. Knoll Design (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1990)., 211.
10. Brian Lutz. Knoll – A Modernist Universe. (New York: Rizzolli International Publications, 2010), 185.
11. Hannah interview.
12. Knoll International Furniture Price List 1973. 67-68.
13. Hannah interview
14. The Morrison and Hannah Airport Collection Price List and Specifications. Knoll International, January 1, 1972
15. Knoll International Furniture Price List 1973. 65-66.
16. Knoll International Furniture Price List 1977/78 Contract/Residential.
17. “1973 Product – Morrison and Hannah 2300 Series.” https://www.knoll.com/the-archive/.
18. Larrabee and Vignelli. 260.
19. Knoll International Furniture Price List 1977/78 Contract/Residential. 17, 41.
20. “Knoll International: Morrison/Hannah”. Sourcebook for Interior Design, February 1974. Note: the production life of the Morrison Hannah Office System is difficult to establish, but none of the items shown in the Supplement were listed in the Furniture Price List 1977/78 – Contract/Residential.
21. Hannah interview.
22. “1973 Product – Morrison and Hannah 2300 Series.” https://www.knoll.com/the-archive/.
23. Hannah interview.