collectingknoll.com

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

Frank Gehry

Of all the architects Knoll’s Worldwide Director of Design, Carl Magnusson, had the pleasure of working with, Frank O. Gehry is at the top of the list.  Gehry had worked with Knoll previously on the development of his structured ribbon veneer collection that became a sales success after introduction in 1992 and won numerous awards that year. This visually striking collection of furniture designed by Gehry is still in production at this writing.

Gehry became one of America’s most renowned architects in the latter twentieth century. He won the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1972 and designed many notable buildings over the years since.  In the late 1990s, Knoll wanted to develop a new outdoor chair. With the perennial success of the Gehry bentwood collection, Magnusson included Gehry on the short list of architects and designers for consideration of this new chair. He decided to visit Gehry personally to kickstart the creative process.

“We needed an outdoor aluminum chair,” Magnusson wrote to this author, “and Frank tried to figure out how the shape could be visually spontaneous and functional. So we put a sheet of silver colored paper, that he usually used for model builds, put it on a Toledo chair and sat down. That was the beginning.”1, 2

Knoll Director of Design Carl Magnusson photographed Frank O. Gehry conceiving his FOG Chair design during a meeting at the architect’s office in May 1998. Courtesy of Knoll, Inc. via the Archive.

Gehry worked on the design, which evolved into a group of shallow compound curves in the cast aluminum seat and back with straight steel tube legs that permitted stacking. The rear legs could extend up past the seat to provide an anchor for the cast aluminum arms. What to call the chair? Gehry suggested his initials, and the FOG Chair was introduced in 1999.3

The Frank Gehry FOG Chair, No. 97A. The No. 97C was armless. Made of cast aluminum and stainless steel, it was designed for use outdoors. Courtesy Knoll, Inc.

Subsequent upholstered models for use indoors were added to the catalog and price list.4 The FOG Collection included four tables to be used with the chairs. These were the No. 98T-24 and 98T-30 round bistro tables and the No. 98T-36 and 98T-42 round dining tables. The base and column was textured cast aluminum and the top was available in either powder-coated cast aluminum or tempered glass.

1. Carl Magnusson email message, September 22, 2023.
2. At a subsequent meeting, Gehry had models of his proposed design and Magnusson made sure to have a picture taken to record the moment. https://www.cleverpodcast.com/blog/ep-88-carl-gustav-magnusson.
3. KnollStudio Price List 2000. 58-59.
4. KnollStudio Price List 2005. 68-69. The FOG Collection of chairs and tables was not listed in the KnollStudio Price List 2008.