Post No. 16 – Architecture & Associés Lounge Collection (2012-2023); July 2026
For over 30 years, Architecture & Associés in Paris has been among the most successful architecture and interior design firms in France. The firm was formed in 1993 by Pierre Beucler who had studied architecture at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD), and Jean-Christophe Poggioli who had studied interior design at Penninghen ESAG.
The award-winning work of Architecture & Associés had been known to Benjamin Pardo at Knoll for some years when he contacted Beucler and Poggioli to learn of their interest in designing a lounge collection for both contract and residential markets. The architects welcomed the opportunity. Beucler and Poggioli studied all of Knoll’s previous lounge seating designs to produce a collection that was unique in appearance while being supremely comfortable.
They selected the three common seating elements of lounge chair, settee and sofa with an ottoman. The pieces had an outer shell with the base and the back having planar surfaces and angular aesthetic features. For prototype and production construction they selected plywood what was inherently strong and easy to fabricate and assemble. The base and back were covered in urethane foam and then finished in fabric or leather. The legs were finished in chrome or copper for an upcharge.
The contract and residential lounge seating shared similar designs but the residential collection had different lounge back designs having higher backs, pronounced wings on the back, the addition of arms on the Settee and Sofa, different cushion construction, and the addition of a striking chaise lounge with asymmetrical or matching wings. Ottomans in three different widths were available for both contract and residential collections.1
Knoll Introduced the Architecture & Associés Lounge Seating Collection at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, Italy in 2012.2 The Collection was manufactured through 2023, and was discontinued in February 2024.3
1. KnollStudio Price List August 2013. 54-69.
2. “2012 Product: Architecture & Associés Lounge Collection.” Knoll Archive Timeline, online. https://www.knoll.com/the-archive/
3. Knoll Design and Specification Update Report for February 2024.
Post No. 15 – Vignelli Associates Handkerchief Chair & PaperClip Table (1985-2023); June 2026
Although Massimo Vignelli and Elena Valli studied architecture and received their degrees in Architecture in Italy, they would eventually reside in the United States and handle commissions for architecture, interior design, product design and graphic design. Massimo Vignelli initiated a corporate identity and graphic design program for Knoll in the late 1960s. This successful rebranding of Knoll and its many furniture brochures, catalogs and related material was followed for the remainder of the 20th century.
Together, they established Vignelli Associates in New York City in 1971, operating a multi-discipline design office for many clients over the following decades. While the circumstances remain somewhat obscure, the Vignellis were asked by Knoll to design a simple side chair in 1983, and the Handkerchief Chair was born. The one-piece seat and back molded of fiberglass-reinforced polyester had both flowing lines and ergonomic comfort, supported by a steel rod sled-style frame. The No. 4901 Armless chair and the No. 4901 Arm Chair could be ordered with or without seat pad. The Handkerchief Chair entered production in 1985.1
Eight years later, the Vignellis designed a table having square or round tops on a bent steel rod base that they called the PaperClip Café Table. The No. 49TS was available in 30”, 36” and 42” square laminate, glass or slate tops. The No. 49TR was available with 36”, 42” or 48” diameter tops in the same materials.2
Both the Handkerchief Chair and the PaperClip Café Table remained in production through 2023. The table was discontinued in January 20243 and the chair was discontinued the following month.4 Both are readily available to collectors today.
1. KnollStudio Price List October 2022.
2. Ibid.
3. Knoll Design and Specification Update Report for January 2024.
4. Knoll Design and Specification Update Report for February 2024.
Post No. 14 – Cini Boeri Lounge Collection (2008-ca. 2019); May 2026
In 2007, Knoll’s Vice President of Design, Benjamin Pardo, reached out to Cini Boeri to design a new lounge seating collection for the 21st century. She was 83 years old. Ever creative, the Milanese architect and product designer had not slowed down, let alone retired from the profession. She welcomed the opportunity to design for Knoll again; her last design for the company was the Brigadier Lounge Seating Collection she designed in 1977.
Pardo sent Boeri the design brief, with all due respect to her legendary architectural and product design portfolio spanning more than half a century. Boeri had designed the Brigadier lounge collection low and wide and she did the same for the new collection. One aspect of the design brief was mobility as a selectable option, so one person could easily rearrange the furniture as the mood suited them.
Boeri delivered designs for a lounge chair, a sofa and an ottoman. The CB1-C Lounge Chair was fitted with fixed legs in the front and fixed lockable casters in the rear. The CB1-L Lounge Chair had four standard legs. The CB2-C Sofa had fixed front legs and fixed lockable rear casters while the CB2-L had four standard legs. The CB3 Ottoman had four swivel casters. The CBP1 large pillow and CBP2 small pillow could be ordered separately.
Knoll introduced the Cini Boeri Lounge Collection in 2008.1 It remained in production for over a decade but was not listed in the Price List for 2021; only the pillows were listed.2
Cini Boeri passed in September 2020 as the age of 96.
1. “2008 Product – Cini Boeri Lounge Collection” Knoll Archive online. https://www.knoll.com/the-archive/
2. KnollStudio Price List 2018 Vol. 1.
Post No. 13 – The Daniel Stromborg Table Collection (2012-2023); April 2026
Daniel Stromborg attended The School of the Art Institute in Chicago before transferring to The Art Center of Design in Pasadena, California where he obtained his design degree. He worked for furniture designer Richard Holbrook and then industrial designer Don Chadwick. Working with Chadwick, Stromborg contributed to the Spark Series stacking chair and worked with Knoll’s design development group.1 Knoll introduced the Spark Series in 2009.
This led to the opportunity to design a table collection for Knoll. Stromborg designed durable tables for contract applications for use inside or outside. Constructed using steel legs and extruded and cast aluminum components with a polyester powder-coated finish with a variety of round, square and rectangular tops. The Stromborg Table Collection was introduced by Knoll in 2012.
The collection included round tables DS02 (32” dia.), DS04 (36” dia.), DS06 (42” dia.), square tables DS08 (36” sq.), DS10 (42” sq.), DS12 (48” sq.), and rectangular tables DS14 (30” x 60”) and DS16 (30” x 72”).
The Stromborg Table Collection remained in production through 2023.2 It was discontinued in January 2024.3
1. Knoll Designer biography.
2. Knoll Space Price List Vol. 1, July 2023,
3. Knoll Design and Specification Update Report for January 2024.
Post No. 12 – The Ross Lovegrove Collection (2007-2017); March 2026
Ross Lovegrove probably holds the distinction of being the first Welsh industrial designer to design for Knoll. He received his BA in Industrial Design from Manchester Polytechnic in 1980 and went on to the Royal College of Art to obtain his Master of Design in 1983. His first affiliation with Knoll was in Paris working on the Alessandri Office System.
Lovegrove was—and remains–a holistic designer and worked on many different product and graphic design projects, but in time he returned to Knoll in the early 2000s. He designed the Bebop Cart in two sizes to easily transport supplies of small items throughout the office space, which Knoll introduced in 2002. He then received a design brief from Knoll for a stacking chair having a one-piece seat and back of molded plywood; this could be available in veneers or solid colors. The Lovegrove Sprite Chair was introduced by Knoll in 2004 and was an international sales success.
Over the next several years, Lovegrove designed a suite of tables, table desks, credenzas and storage pedestals as part of the Lovegrove Collection that was introduced in 2007. These furnishings filled a niche in the office space and in the Knoll catalog for everyday work desks, tables and storage cabinets with solid colors, not gleaming chrome and luxurious veneers. According to the Knoll Archive Timeline, the Lovegrove Collection was manufactured through 2017.
Post No. 11 – The Shelton Mindel Collection; February 2026
With Carl Magnusson’s pending retirement from Knoll in 2005 as global director of design, Knoll searched for his replacement. One of the candidates was Benjamin Pardo, a 17-year-veteran and president of UniFor headquartered in Italy. Pardo was recruited and he welcomed the opportunity to put Knoll on a new design path for the 21st century.
Among Pardo’s first additions to the roster of new designers were architects Peter Shelton and Lee Mindel. They had founded Shelton, Mindel & Associates in 1978 and had a large portfolio of private, institutional, and corporate clients. Pardo envisioned not a just a single piece but an entire collection of furnishings as Knoll had done with Eero Saarinen, Warren Platner and Charles Pfister.
Shelton and Mindel designed a wood armchair with radiused veneer seat back, two lounge seating groups and three steel and glass tables. The SM8A arm chair was offered in Beech, Walnut or Oak with upholstered seat, or the SM8A-U fully upholstered arm chair. The SM9 side table, SM91 small coffee table and the SM92 large coffee table were all rectilinear in design. Lounge seating included the SM1-1 Lounge Chair, SM1-2 Settee, and the SM1-3 Sofa with integrated cushions, and the SM2-1 Lounge Chair, SM2-2 Settee and the SM2-3 Sofa with separate seat and back cushions which could be ordered in a contrasting color. The complete palette of Knoll fabrics and leathers were available with the lounge seating group1.
The Shelton Mindel Collection was introduced by Knoll in 2006 and remained in production until the early 2020s. The entire collection was listed in the KnollStudio Price List of October 2022 but was not included in the KnollStudio Price List of July 2023. In February 2024, the collection was announced as discontinued.2 Being so recently discontinued makes the likelihood of finding pieces from the Shelton Mindel Collection more likely.
1. KnollStudio Price List 2008
2. Knoll Design and Specification Update Report for February 2024.
Post No. 10 – The Raul de Armas Chairs; January 2026
Knoll has had affiliations with prominent architects going back to the 1940s, most notably Aero Saarinen working with Florence Knoll on the Womb Chair, and later the Saarinen Collection of tables and chairs. Most of Saarinen’s chair and table designs are still in the Knoll catalog because the designs are timeless and continue to sell well.
Raul de Armas obtained his architectural degree from Cornell University and was hired by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He became a rising star at the firm and was made a partner at SO&M in the 1980s. In 1991, he left SO&M to form a new architectural practice with two other partners.
That same year, Knoll’s Director of Design, Carl Magnusson, reached out to de Armas to have him design a collection of wood chairs. The designs, which had four equally-spaced horizontal seatback members, moved quickly to production; the De Armas Chair was introduced by Knoll in the latter half of 1991. The 38A arm chair and 38C armless chair were constructed of maple hardwood with a clear finish or beech hardwood stained in a choice of finishes. The thin upholstered seat was supported by elastic webbing for comfort. Both chairs could be ordered fully upholstered (38AW-U armchair and 38CW-U armless chair).
In 2000, Knoll introduced the Vertical de Armas Chair having vertical seatback members and the same overall dimensions as the original chair, with the numerical prefix 41. The de Armas Chair Collection remained in the Knoll catalog and Price List through 2022 but was not listed in the July 2023 Price List. The Knoll Design and Specification Update for January 2024 sent to its contract dealers noted the “de Armas Side Chairs have been discontinued.” The de Armas chairs can still be found at used office furniture dealers and are perfect for any home.
Post No. 9 – Don Chadwick’s Office Chair for Knoll; December 2025
Don Chadwick was born and raised a Californian. He attended the University of California in Los Angeles during the mid-1950s to study design. In the early 1970s Chadwick consistently won design awards from Industrial Design magazine, as well as other design awards. His first significant furniture design was a modular seating group for Herman Miller introduced in 1974. Two years later, designer William Stumpf desgined the Ergon Chair for Herman Miller. Inevitably, Chadwick and Stumpf met, and in 1977 formed Chadwick, Stumpf & Associates.1
The two designers worked on product and interior design projects for clients for a number of years before they collaborated on the Equa office chair for Herman Miller which was introduced in 1984. The Equa was among the first chairs to incorporate a tilting mechanism that permitted the occupant’s feet to remain on the floor as they tilted back.2 This human factors consideration was also researched and incorporated by Neils Diffrient in his executive office chair for Knoll. The Equa Chair was immensely successful for Herman Miller, selling in the millions over its production life.
A decade later, a revolutionary chair Chadwick and Stump had been working on for years for Herman Miller was introduced in 1994; this was the Aeron Chair. The fully exposed but encapsulated mechanism to raise, lower,recline, tilt and swive was mounted under the seat and secured to the base post. The separate thin seat and back was not upholstered in the conventional sense but used plastic mesh to accomodate the occupant’s body while providing cooling comfort. The unorthodox appearance of the chair’s adjustable arms further distinguished the Aeron chair. This chair won a slew of design awards and its looks, comfort and durability made it the most successful ergonomic task chair of the business world. In the early 2000s, Chadwick formed Don Chadwick & Associates in Santa Monica.
With a well-established record of design success, Chadwick was approached by Knoll’s vice president of design, Carl Magnusson, with the design requirement for a new task chair. In his discussions with Knoll, the mutual goals included a task chair having features that made it supremely comfortable and easy to adjust for the occupant. Working with Knoll’s design development group, the details of the chair were refined, the prototypes built and then evaluated. The Chadwich chair in a variety of configurations was approved for production and was introduced by Knoll in 2005.
The Knoll Office Seating Price List for 2005 listed several configurations with the descriptions Tilt Stop Control, Basic Control, High Task Chair Tilt Stop Control, and High Task Chair Basic Control. The chairs were offered with arms and armless. The High Task Chair was designed for use by traditional drafting personnel with a ring-type foot rest even as an increasing amount of design work was being conducted with computers on desks. There were fixed or adjustable arms and choice of either soft or hard casters per order. The structural components of the chair were glass-filled nylon; the seat and back mesh could be ordered in beige, brown, silver, green, black red or blue.
The Chadwich Chair remained in production until the purchase of Knoll by Herman Miller in July 2021. The managment of the newly formed MillerKnoll collective undoubtedly viewed the Chadwick Chair as redundant within the corporation which continued to manufacture the Aeron Chair, so production of the Chadwick Chair ceased. Examples in fine condition can be found on the used office furniture market for a reasonable price.
- “Don Chadwick biography.” Knoll Designers.
- Jonathan Olivares, A Taxonomy of Office Chairs. Phaidon Press, Inc. (New York, 2011). 57.
Post No. 8 – Where have the Stephens Office Systems Gone? November 2025
The field of contract furnishings has been a large portion of Knoll’s business since its founding. In the late 1960s, the concept of the open office that emerged departed from the traditional layout of offices having floor to ceiling walls. William Stephens had been with Knoll since 1960 and in 1967 was part of a small group of designers who began research into this open office landscape concept and how Knoll could respond to it for one of their clients, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Stephens directed much of the design effort and Knoll, as typically was the case, gave the designers name to the furniture piece or collection. The Stephens Office Landscape System was modular, consisting of vertical panels, partitions, overhead storage bins, desks with and without extensions, storage cabinets, lighting and many other components. Oak or mahogany veneer was the primary surface treatment, supplemented with plastic laminate. Vertical panels could be upholstered in fabric per order. The Stephens Office Landscape System was introduced in 1971 and manufactured through 19845.
As I indicated on the homepage of this website, office systems are not of interest to collectors of Knoll furniture. However, there were stand-alone desks as part of the Stephens Open Landscape System that would lend themselves to smaller office environments. Below is a detail from a 1978 Stephens System Price List:
Knoll sold an untold number of these systems to corporate clients around the world for a decade and a half. At some point the client may have wanted to update the office landscape system with something new, so the Stephens System was disassembled and purchased by a used office furniture business for resale. The same process would happen if that business relocated or closed altogether. Knoll was ready to provide new and technically up-to-date office systems designed by Otto Zapf, Gwathmey Siegel, Andrew Morrison or Bruce Hannah.
The Stephens No. 5102 or 5107 desk would make a superb home office or small office furnishing today but would require refurbishing. (Note the restoration of the Pfister table, above). However, it seems the window of opportunity to acquire a Knoll piece is within five to ten years after end of production. A Google search of “Stephens desk for Knoll” only results in listings of his chairs. You would probably only come across the Stephens desk as a ‘barn find.’ Nevertheless, dauntless searchers are still finding 1963 split-window Corvette Stingrays and 1970 Hemi Road Runners. Ask, and keep asking and searching and you just may find that Knoll piece you are looking for.
1. KnollStudio Price List 1988. 140-147.
2. Vitra Design Museum, Mies van der Rohe Architecture and Design in Stuttgart, Barcelona, Brno. Skira Editore (1998). 194-198
3. KnollStudio Price List 1990. 130-137.
4. KnollStudio Price List October 2022. 438-443. The Pascal Collection was not listed in the KnollStudio Price List July 2023.
5. Brian Lutz, Knoll- A Modernist Universe. Rizzoli (2010). 182.
Post No. 7 – Pascal Mourgue – Contract becomes collectible; October 2025
In France, L’Ecole Boulle is known for graduating noted artists and L’Ecole Nationale des Artes Decoratifs a broad range of design field creatives. Olivier Mourgue (b. 1939) most certainly influenced his younger brother Pascal (b. 1943) to follow in his footsteps and attend these same schools. The Mourgue brothers had a significant impact on French and European arts and product design.
Pascal Mourgue designed a range of consumer products from the latter sixties into the eighties. Knoll International based in France at the time knew of his body of work and in 1985 collaborated with the designer on a collection of conference tables. Table tops were offered in square, half-round, round and racetrack configuration; the rectangular sections could be ganged together to make any needed length conference table.1
When designing the table legs, Mourgue took his design inspiration from Mies van der Rohe’s Villa Tugendhat built in Brno, Czech Republic in the late 1920s. The interior of the villa featured polished four-legged vertical beams, most notably in the living room but also seen in other areas of the villa.2
Knoll introduced the Pascal Collection of Conference Tables in 1985. Tabletops were 1-3/16-inch thick available medium red mahogany, dark red mahogany, medium brown mahogany, grey mahogany or grey bird’s eye maple veneer. The bullnose edge was either black extruded PVC or matching solid wood as ordered. The legs were extruded aluminum and available polished or finished in black epoxy.
In 1990, marble tops became available for the Pascal Collection. These were offered in grey Grigio Bardiglio, black Nero Marguina, white Calacatta, red Rosso Collemandina, and green Verde Alpi.3 Mourgue continued his design career for the remainder of the eighties and into the nineties. The square, round and smaller racetrack conference tables are ideal in the home for the Knoll collector. The Pascal Collection of tables remained available from Knoll through January 2024.4
- Knoll Designer Bios: Pascal Mourgue.
- The Museum of Modern Art, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. (1977)
- KnollStudio Price List – 1990.
- Knoll Design and Specification Update Report for February 2024; “Discontinued Pascal Tables.”
Post No. 6 – Knoll Celebrates 60 Years of the Charles Pollock Executive Chair; September 2025
After Knoll introduced Charles Pollock’s leather sling armchair (Cat. No. 657), the designer began the design an executive chair. Pollock worked on the design, scale models and prototypes with Don Albinson in the Design Development Group. Pollock envisioned the chair with a polished aluminum frame with a black plastic shell and an integrated upholstered seat and back cushion in a range of fabrics and leathers.
With discussions between Pollock and Albinson, detail design of the aluminum extrusion emerged having a eliptical cross section with a slot to retain the lip of the plastic shell and stamped steel seat pan for mounting the base, and a retaining groove to receive a shaped plastic welt with edge stitched to the upholstery. Considerable effort went into this hidden feature of the extrusion involving ease of assembly while ensuring retension of the upholstery. Knoll documents the design was completed by Pollock in 1963. Albinson was assisted by Charles Helms in the design of the retaining features of the extrusion. Knoll filed a patent for: CONNECTOR MEANS FOR UPHOLSTERY- FRAME CONNECTION on June 10, 1965. Patent No. 3, 298,743 was granted January 17, 1967.
The Knoll 1250 Series Executive Chair designed by Charles Pollock was introduced in 1965. It was offered as a swivel arm and armless chair with casters, swivel side chair with and without arms, and side chair with and without arms. The polished and chrome plated frame with black injection molded shell and the entire pallet of fabric and leather upholstery made a supreme industrial design statement having remarkable comfort. The Pollock Chair became the premier choice for conference rooms and executive offices around the world and has remained one of Knoll’s bestselling catalog items.
Post No. 5 – The Summer I met Raymond Lowey and Syd Mead; July 2025
Having applied to Pratt Institute and being accepted, my father spoke with a design engineer he knew at DuPont Corporation in Wilmington, Delaware saying I had been accepted. The design engineer said he knew William Snaith, who was a partner in the design firm Raymond Lowey & William Snaith in New York City. He told me father he would speak with William Snaith and see if I could work there for the summer just before I was to enter Pratt. This would be the summer of 1971. Mr. Snaith said their company welcomed summer students, so a start date was set for some time in June. Then my father informed me the most affordable housing for me in Manhattan would be the West Side YMCA, so he reserved a room for me, prepaid the first two weeks, and the rest was on me. My father was unaware, and I had no idea, that the demographic for the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) had changed completely, and I would discover that myself that summer.
With nothing more than a suitcase, my father put me on a train at the Wilmington Station and I took the several hour train ride up to New York City. At the Manhattan station, I got off the train, took a cab to the Westside YMCA off Central Park West and went to the front desk. I checked in and was given the key to my room. I was told there was a cafeteria downstairs where I could eat my meals. I went to my room, unpacked the suitcase, stored it in the closet, then went down to the cafeteria for a meal. It was the Saturday before the Monday I was to start at Raymond Lowey & William Snaith Associates, so after calling my parents to let them know I was settled in, I decided to walk down to Columbus Circle and take in the Big City. Sunday morning after breakfast I walked the route to the address the design offices were located on 59th Street between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue. I noted the time it took.
I got to the offices Monday morning, gave my name to the receptionist, said Mr. Snaith was expecting me and I sat down. Several minutes later, a secretary came out to meet me and take me to Mr. Snaith’s office. He informed me I would be a “runner”, someone who got anything that was needed on short notice and help in other ways. In short, I was an errand boy. Wednesday of that week around 10 AM I was talking with someone in the general design room. All the chatter died down, I turned around and looked up at Raymond Lowey. He wore a double-breasted business suit.
“You must be Anthony,” Lowey said. “Yes, sir!” I answered smartly. He welcomed me to his firm and said he hoped I would learn a good deal about design and the design process working there that summer. It was clear everyone in the room had the greatest respect for him. As I was to learn, he was one of the most respected industrial designers in the world.
The following week, I was working with a junior designer on something, when he said, “How would you like to meet Syd Mead?” I was a virtual clean slate when it came to knowledge about designers and illustrators, so not wanting to display my ignorance, I simply said, “Sure!”
Syd Mead had his own office at Lowey & Snaith Associates. I said it was a pleasure to meet him, he said the same and went immediately back to the illustration he was working on. By 1975. Mead had become a legend in the industrial design world, drawing contracts with Fortune 500 companies to illustrate their current and future products. Mead created a great deal of product illustration for Lowey & Snaith Associates’ client companies and I would find previous Mead projects stored in overhead storage cabinets, drafting drawers–just about anywhere.
The rest of my summer was a blurr and I began my freshman courses at Pratt that fall. Fast forward….director Ridley Scott was doing production design research for Blade Runner when he came across a copy of the book, Sentinel published by Dragon’s Dream in 1979. This book was a collection of Syd Mead’s futurist concept artwork, and Scott was intrigued with Mead’s illustration style. In Paul M. Sammon’s book Future Noir – The Making of Blade Runner, Scott was quoted as saying: “A lot of the art in Sentinel was a bit too futuristic for what I had in mind for Blade Runner. But from his photographic specific style, and the other elements I could already see in his art, I had the feeling Syd Mead would be able to pull back on his ‘Flash Gordon’ tendencies and place his visions within our own film’s time period. I was specifically impressed with his automotive designs. I felt I might be on to something…we formally approached Syd with the idea of working on Blade Runner.“
I was living in Orlando, Florida in 1982 when Blade Runner was released. Select theater locations around the United States were chosen to show the film in 70mm format, which was the IMAX of its day. Orlando had one theater that had a 70mm projector, so I bought a ticket to see it. I had seen Star Wars in 70mm in New York City and was blown away by the scope and resolution of the film, so I had high expectations for Blade Runner. It was a phenominal experience.
Post No. 4 – The Montevideo Chair; June 2025
In my junior year of study at Pratt Institute, one of my professors was John Pile. He was a practicing interior designer and he had a passion for furniture. He wrote and published Modern Furniture in 1978 and several more books on interior design in the years following. Prof. Pile let it be known he had a rabid hatred of fake woodgrain and vinyl upholstery. Naturally, he wanted his students to try their design aspirations on furniture and one of the requirements was to make drawings and sketches which he would critique. Once the design was approved we had several weeks to make a scale model of the furniture and bring it to class for a design review.
I first designed a meeting table with tubular steel base and rosewood top. I made a model using solid brass rod which I had chrome plated, and searched several locations in Manhattan to obtain a solid rosewood plank that I cut to size, sanded and then polished. I assembled this to the base with miniature screws. Prof. Pile gave me a positive critique and the next challenge was to design an office chair.
I had been impressed with Don Petitt’s bentwood frame office chair he had designed for Knoll and in studying it, wondered if I could do something similar in tubular steel–a material used in furniture design for decades. For the model, I again used solid brass rod which I bent to shape using conical-tip pliers to form the seatback, arm and legs. I had to scrap the first two attempts but the third one was what I wanted. I then polished the frame and base pieces and took it to a chrome plating shop. I made the seat shell from styrene plastic, painted black. The cushions was shaped from balsawood, then upholstered in fine grain leather. The photos here show the result.
The day came for the students put their design before Prof. Pile and receive his critique. Although of conventional design, he was pleased with what I had achieved and I would like to think I was one of his best students that year. I thoroughly enjoyed his class, and working in Charles Pollock’s studio in Queens over two summers gave me the belief I could eventually become a furniture designer after I graduated. I graduated from Pratt in June 1975, which, as I write, was fifty years ago.
I later took photographs of the model and made dimension drawings and kept them in a file folder for years after graduating. I named the chair after my birthplace in Montevideo, Ururguay. My family moved back to the United States in 1954, and I promptly forgot what little Spanish I knew as a child. Upon graduating, I was eager to get out of Brooklyn and up to Connecticut in Fairfield County. I had lived the city life for four years and very much liked the lush green areas of the nearby state. Among my boxes of stuff was the file folder with the drawings and photos of the Montevideo Chair. Below are a few of the drawings.
I lived in Connecticut for six years, then moved to Florida. I discovered there were no industrial design offices in Orlando, but there was design engineering work and started contracting as a job shopper working through technical recruiters. I went to work for Disney Ride and Show Engineering on the EPCOT project and was there for three years until the project I was working wound down. My next job was only a phone call away and my recruiters with different firms kept me working. But in my need to keep working, I never got the chance to work on a furniture project.
Decades later, while going through a banker box of material I came across the file folder with the Montevideo Chair. I wondered if I could interest a furniture manufacturer in the design. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” I said to myself. Because of my two summers working for Charles Pollock, I naively thought I would submit the design to Knoll to see if they might be interested. I had created other furniture designs as well and had used Computer Aided Design to create them. I learned that Benjamin Pardo was Director of Design and Senior Vice President of Knoll at the time. My letter to him got a positive response and he asked I send the designs to him for consideration.
I sent the materials off to Pardo expectantly, but unknowingly. This was years before I was to learn the truth about any new designs Knoll might consider. That truth was what Bruce Hannah told me in my interview with him. That truth was what he and Andrew Morrison learned early in their design careers: The Power of the Prototype. Any designer can produce drawings and models, which has to be done initially. However, the full-size working prototype proves the designer can deliver a chair, table, desk–whatever–that can honestly be evaluated to be considered for production.
When Pardo saw no evidence of me having built a prototype, the design materials were returned to me. Pardo’s brief letter to me said my designs did not meet Knoll’s future marketing requirements. A clever name was no substitute for a prototype one can sit in.
Post No. 3 – Knoll Reissues; May 2025
Furniture designs released by Knoll typically have long production lives. This is evidenced by their continued strong sales, or sufficient to justify it’s production. Sometimes diminished sales coupled with the desire to introduce a new product will result in discontinuing production. Since becoming Senior Vice President of Design for Knoll in 2022, Jonathan Olivares has reviewed several iconic designs that were out of production and felt them worthy of reintroduction. Some of these are shown below.
The Richard Schultz Leisure Collection
The Richard Schultz Leisure Collection of outdoor furniture was introduced in 1966 and offered for several decades before Knoll stopped manufacturing it. In 2012, Knoll chose to reintroduce the Leisure Collection, and introduce some other pieces Schultz had designed but had not been manufactured. In addition, this furniture was now available in various colors.
The Charles Pollock No. 657 Armchair
When I was interviewed for a summer intern job by Charles Pollock at his home and design studio in Queens, NY, in his living room he had an example of the first chair he designed for Knoll. It was known just by its product number: 657. The chair, comprised of steel tubing, cast aluminum frame, phenolic arms and leather sling seat with upholster foam cushion, was introduced in 1960 and sold reasonably well. Pollock’s 657 chair remained in production for over a decade. It was listed in the Contract/Residential Furniture Price List 1977/78 (page 131-132 in Residential) but was not listed in the Residential Price List of February 1981. Decades later, Knoll decided to reintroduce this chair in 2014. Once a collectible, you can now order it once again from Knoll.
Tobia Scarpa Bastiano Collection
Tobia Scarpa’s Andre tables of polished and chrome plated steel and thick tempered glass tops were quintessential products in the Knoll catalog during the 1960s, 1970s and the 1980s. Scarpa followed his table designs with a comfortable seating group of lounge chair, settee and sofa he called the Bastiano Collection introduced in 1969. These remained in production for many years but were eventually discontinued in 1989. In 2022, Knoll resumed production and the chair and settee are shown here.
Mies van der Rohe Tugendhat Chair
In 2022, Johnathan Olivares was appointed Senior Vice President of Design for Knoll. Apart from the continuing search for new designers and their designs, Olivares had a list of discontinued Knoll offerings he wanted to see back in the Knoll catalog. One of them was the very rare Tugendhat Chair designed by Mies van der Rohe at roughly the same time as his iconic Barcelona Chair. The Tugendhat Chair was introduced in the 1960s and was only in production for a few years before it was discontinued. Knoll reissued the chair in 2025, with or without arms, and in a new array of fabrics and colors.
Morrison & Hannah Task Chair
When starting this website, I had the great good fortune to discover Bruce Hannah was still very active as an industrial designer. Hannah and Andrew Morrison had been two of the most prolific designers during the 1970s that Knoll had ever worked with. The design team of Morrison and Hannah continued for a decade before they decided to dissolve their partnership. By then, they had produced dozens of designs of their modular seating groups, chairs and tables. Eventually, all their designs were discontinued.
Olivares knew Hannah was still a practicing industrial designer on Long Island (Andrew Morrison passed in 2012) and wanted to reintroduce one of the M&H team’s designs. Olivares reached out to Hannah to get his thoughts, who agreed it would be a splendid idea. A meeting was scheduled and Hannah met with Olivares at his Knoll office in New York City. That in itself brought back many memories for Hannah. They went over the portfolio of Morrison and Hannah designs, and eventually settled on the 2300 series office chair. This was a practical decision as this particular design would lend itself to the biggest market and would sell the most units. For the 21st century, the chairs would be titled the Morrison-Hannah Task Armchair and the Morrison-Hannah Task Side Chair. If you missed your chance to buy one in the 1970s, now is your chance.
The Joseph D’Urso Occasional Table
When the Joseph D’Urso Collection was introduced by Knoll in 1980, it included several low rolling tables constructed of steel and offered in a variety of tops. Olivares admired them and wanted them back in the Knoll catalog. They became available again as the D’Urso Occasional Tables in 2025.
Post No. 2 – Restoring a Charles Pfister No. 3015 Table; March 2025
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.
Post No. 1 – Charles Pollock, Ron Sekulski and I; February 2025
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 from 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.