Post No. 1 – Charles Pollock, Ron Sekulski and I
In 1973 I was in the middle of my studies at Pratt Institute working toward my degree in Industrial Design. One of my professors was Rowena Reed Kostellow. She announced in class one day that Charles Pollock, a Pratt graduate and a designer for Knoll would be coming to the campus to give a slide presentation of the Knoll au Louvre exhibition held at the famed Paris museum in 1972.
Pollock arrived at Pratt Studios and Reed Kostellow proudly introduced her former student. With Pollock was Ron Sekulski, his assistant and himself a Pratt graduate. The slide show started and Pollock launched into a brief history of Knoll, his first chair for Knoll, the No. 657 armchair, followed by his immensely successful No. 1250 Series executive chair, and then on to the Knoll au Louvre exhibition itself.
I was enthralled by what I saw. After the presentation, there was a question-and-answer session. I approached Ron, introduced myself and asked if Mr. Pollock hired summer interns. He took me over to Pollock, I posed the question, and he said, “Bring me your portfolio and I will let you know my decision,” or words to that effect.
Pollock’s home and design studio was in Queens. The NYC subway system got me to my station stop, then I walked a few blocks to his home, toting my portfolio. Pollock’s wife Maud greeted me at the door and took me into the living room where Charles Pollock was waiting. He pointed to a highback lounge chair with ottoman and said, “Sit down and tell me what you think.” This was the first prototype based off his executive chair with polished and plated aluminum extrusion rim. It was supremely comfortable, but, he told me, the shell design needed refinement.
He asked to see what I had in my portfolio so I showed him the drawings, renderings and some photos I had taken. He seemed favorably impressed and agreed to have me work helping Ron in the basement studio. The summer of 1973, I assisted Ron in the development of the second highback lounge chair prototype. Ron handled design development while I did nothing more challenging than mixing plaster of Paris, sanding molded parts and wielding cans of black spray paint. Pollock would come down for his upstairs office and stopped in daily to direct progress.
I worked at the Pollock studio with Ron the following summer. The highback lounge chair was never approved for production by Knoll, although the ottoman had briefly been a production item in the late 1960s. Ron went on to become a successful industrial designer in his own right. I moved up to Connecticut after graduating from Pratt, working for a number of design offices in Fairfield County. In 1981, I moved to Florida and transitioned from industrial design to electro-mechanical design where there were more opportunities for work. My dreams of furniture design faded away but my appreciation for Knoll furniture remained
Post No. 2 – Restoring a Charles Pfister No. 3015 Table
Any piece of furniture will experience wear over a period of years or even decades. This is particularly true of seating, whether it is a chair, settee, sofa or some other kind furniture. The most common restoration of seating is reupholstery. Tables, desks, storage cabinets and related casegoods require different skills only acquired from years of experience from building custom pieces or restoring existing furniture. A number of specialist companies in the United States and in Europe can perform this work equal to the furniture’s original manufacture. One of the most accomplished in this regard is Classic Design in Torrance, California. Established in 1986 by Raoul Benassaya, this company has built a welll-deserved reputation for craftsmanship and a long list of satisfied customers. It can perform design and manufacture of custom pieces as well as reupholster mid-century to late century pieces from Knoll, Herman Miller and other manufactuers.
In 2015, Classic Design received a fire-damaged Charles Pfister table in need of restoration. Originally manufactured in Italy, the table had been ordered in an off-white polyester finish for the table top with polished chrome legs. Several places on the table top had damage down to the hardwood core and the table edges displayed chips in the finish. The chrome trim along the edges was bent in several places. Pfister tables had not been manufactured in more than twenty years and could not be replaced. The owners asked if it could be restored and the answer was yes.
The legs and edge trim were removed from the table top. Weeks of restoration work followed. Special effort was made to color match the original polyester finish. The chrome trim was meticulously straightened and the legs likewise restored to as-new condition. When the restoration was completed the client was shown the finished work and they were extremely pleased. For the collector of Knoll furniture, finding a restoration firm like Classic Design can heighten the pleasure of ownership.
