Covering Knoll furniture from 1960 to 2000 that is no longer in production.

Ettore Sottsass

Ettore Sottsass studied architecture at the Politecnico di Torino and graduated in 1939. After World War II, he became involved in architectural design and reconstruction in Italy. Like Vico Magistretti, Sottsass would become actively involved in industrial design during the latter 20^th century. However, Sottsass’ design sensibilities were quite different, as history would prove.

The earliest furniture designs by Sottsass appeared in exhibitions in the late 1940s as finely finished prototypes.¹In the late 1950s he secured a consulting contract with Olivetti and over the next twenty years would design products from desktop calculators and typewriters to mainframe computers for the company. Sottsass and his design associates also designed Synthesis 45 for Olivetti which was an entire office furniture system, which included task seating.²

His first limited production furniture designs were manufactured by Poltronova beginning in the late 1950s. However, the small Sottsass design office managed both architecture and product design in general. It was not until the 1980s when Knoll embraced Richard Meier and Robert Venturi that the distinctive Sottsass aesthetic became a possibility. Carl Magnusson was Knoll’s Director of Design for Europe during this time and was responsible for bringing Sottsass into the Knoll portfolio.

“I initiated the engagement as Knoll needed a shakeup in design,” Magnusson states. “Ettore, while a star, was not a Prima donna, quite down to earth. He, and his team, headed up by Marco Zaninni, were great to work with–professional and quick. Most commercially successful designs were the Mandarin chair and Spyder table. We made the whole collection at one shot without any visual modifications.”³

The Mandarin Chair was available as an arm chair (No. 39A) and armless chair (No. 39C) in ten different color finishes generous choice of fabrics or leathers. Courtesy Knoll, Inc.

The No. 36A Bridge Arm Chair and No. 36C Bridge Armless Chair were manufactured of beechwood and available in the same range of upholstery. Courtesy Knoll, Inc.

Two Ettore Sottsass No. 35S1 Eastside Lounge Chairs with standard headrest. Also pictured is the No. 34T3 Central Park Table. Courtesy Knoll, Inc.

The Sottsass Westside Lounge Chair (No. 35S1) could be ordered with different color seat, back and arms and typically were. The Westside Collection included the No. 37S2 Settee and 37S3 Sofa. Courtesy Knoll, Inc.

The Sottsass Shift Table displayed the architect’s sense of humor like the other pieces in the Collection. The table was offered in Beechwood or three different marbles. Courtesy Knoll, Inc.

The appropriately named Spyder Table was offered in two different diameter table tops. Courtesy Knoll, Inc.

The Sottsass Collection included the Mandarin and Bridge chairs, Shift table, Spyder tables, Central Park tables, Eastside Lounge chair, settee and sofa, and Westside Lounge chair, settee and sofa. This Collection was designed and manufactured during the mid-1980s. The most popular designs were the Mandarin chair and the Eastside Lounge Collection which remained in the catalog and Price List through 2000.^4,5

1. Barbara Radice, Ettore Sottsass – A Critical Biography.(New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1993) 34-35.
2. 1000 CHAIRS, Charlotte & Peter Fiell. (Köln: TASCHEN GmbH, 2005). 452.
3. Carl Magnusson email message to author, January 10, 2024.
4. KnollStudio Price List 2000. 46-47, 112-113.
5. The Shift table, Park Avenue tables and the Westside chair, settee and sofa were not in the KnollStudio Price List 1990. The Bridge chair was in the KnollStudio Price List 1992, but not in the KnollStudio Price List 1996. The Sypder tables were in the KnollStudio Price List 1998 but not the Price List for 2000.