The Knoll Design Development Group continued to add designers to the staff during the 1950s who were essential for creating new furniture designs, helping designers and architects refine their designs and develop manufacturing processes to bring those designs to market.
Don Petitt studied at the Chicago Institute of Design, briefly worked in the George Nelson design office, then joined Knoll in 1952 to work in the Design Development Group. Richard Schultz had been helping Harry Bertoia with the development of the artist’s wire chairs, and Petitt was directed to help in that effort.
When Eero Saarinen began showing Florence Knoll his graceful chair and table designs, Petitt was sent to Michigan to help the architect move the designs to models and then prototypes. This was a collaborative effort among Saarinen, Petitt and the Knoll production team that took several years. Florence Knoll was actively involved in the design improvements of this Saarinen collection. The first pieces to be introduced of this new collection were the tables, which entered production in 1956; the side and armchairs were added to the collection over the next two years.1
There were members of Knoll’s Design Development Group during the 1950s and 1960s who worked in a product development or manufacturing engineering capacity who never designed a piece of furniture manufactured by Knoll. As a result, they remained anonymous. One of them was Robert H. Savage. In August of 1960, Savage filed a patent application (with Knoll Associates the Assignee) for a new means of bending bundled and glued wood strips for use in furniture construction.2
This document described and illustrated the method of bundling small, square cross-section wood strips after applying adhesive, then using steam to bend the bundle with fixtures. Once the adhesive had set and the bundle cooled, it was removed and finished accordingly. When Petitt began designing his bentwood chair, Savage pitched his bentwood method for use in the chair’s manufacture.
As Petitt refined his design for use as an armchair, development continued on the best wood configuration and method of manufacturing. Bill Stephens and Robert DeFuccio, also in the Design Development Group, assisted in these efforts. Experimentation with glued veneer-thickness oak proved most promising, and Don Albinson and Florence Knoll Bassett approved this approach to Petitt’s chair design.
Knoll introduced the Pettit No. 1105 side armchair in 1966. Petitt revised the design for use in an office setting and the No. 1115 arm chair and the 1118 swivel arm chair with casters were introduced in 1968.3
Bill Stephens, a graduate of the Philadelphia Museum School of Art (later renamed the Philadelphia College of Art) joined Knoll’s Design Development Group in 1960. Initially, Stephens was involved in building development prototypes. He became closely involved with Petitt’s chair and it was a collective effort within the Design/Development Group in East Greenville to perfect the veneer bentwood manufacturing process, which took several years. It became clear this new wood furniture manufacturing method could and would lend itself to furniture beyond the Petitt chair, and eventually it did.
With the Petitt chair in production, Stephens envisioned a bentwood chair of smaller dimensions, employing a rattan seat and back. He made sketches, then drawings, models and finally several prototypes. However, these prototypes revealed literal weaknesses. Stephens abandoned the rattan and chose a molded fiber-reinforced shell mounted to the bentwood frame. This way, the molded shell became a stressed member that reinforced the wood frame. The shell was fully upholstered. This proved the winning combination for Stephens’ new chair, and this was duly patented.4
The Stephens 1300 series side chair and armchair were introduced in 1967. The chair won the Industrial Designers Magazine award that year, and the Design Center Stuttgart Award in 1969. The 1300 series office variants on a pedestal swivel base with and without arms were introduced in 1970. Stephens also employed the multi-layer bentwood frame construction for No. 1315 Lounge Chair introduced in 1971.5
Around 1969, the Knoll Design Development Group received a request from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill interior design architect Charles Pfister to design an open office furniture and panel system for the new Weyerhaeuser Headquarters in Seattle, Washington. Don Albinson put together a design team headed by Stephens. The Stephens Open Office Furniture System, or Stephens System for short, was delivered to Seattle on time and became a cornerstone of Knoll’s premier office system for corporate clients worldwide.
Albinson resigned from Knoll in 1971 to pursue new design challenges, and Stephens was appointed Knoll’s new manager of the Design Development Group.6
1. KnollStudio Price List 1988. 24-26, 50-51, 156-157
2. Savage, Robert H., NoveL Bending Method. US Patent No. 3,107,708, filed August 15, 1960, and issued October 22, 1963.
3. The No. 1115 and 1118 Petitt office chairs remained in production for more than a decade, but the Knoll 1984 Price List only listed the No. 1105 armchair. The online Knoll Archive states the last year of production was 1985.
4. Stephens, William I., Furniture Construction. US Patent No. 3,450,435, filed March 21, 1967, and issued June 17, 1969.
5. The 1304 armless and 1308 arm swivel chairs were listed 1977/78 Contract/Residential Prices List but were discontinued in 1981 with a new Stephens Office Seating collection introduced in 1982 (Lutz). The 1301 armless and 1305 armchair were listed in the 1988 KnollStudio Price but were discontinued later that year according to Knoll’s Designer Bio for Bill Stephens.
6. Christine Rae, Knoll au Louvre: Catalog of the Exhibition held at the Pavillon de Marsan Musée des Arts Décoratifs 107, rue de Rivoli, Paris. January 12 to March 12, 1972. (New York: Chanticleer Press for Knoll International, Inc., 1971) unpaginated.