The Royal College of Art in London is the premier postgraduate design school in England. Paul Haigh graduated in 1975 after attending Leads Polytechnic (known today as Leeds Beckett University). Bill Stephens, head of Knoll’s Design Development Group in the 1970s, met Haigh in England at the recommendation of Knoll’s president, Robert Cadwallader. Haigh was invited him to join Knoll in Pennsylvania, which he did in 1978.1
As part of Knoll’s annual design review, Haigh presented a modular table he had designed while attending the Royal College of Art. The table, in essence, is an assembly of extruded aluminum legs and rails (horizontal frame members) bolted together at the corners. This made it possible to have a multitude of tables of different heights, widths, and lengths. This modular approach made it possible to have a multitude of tables of different heights, widths, and lengths.
The design development focused on the leg and rail extrusion profiles and means of corner assembly. The extrusions for the rails differed from the legs because the rails were designed to accept either laminate or glass tops. The rails and legs assembled to a diecast zinc bracket using sliding plates and cap head screws. The corners were closed off with a tetrahedron outer bracket and soft neoprene cap.2
Knoll introduced the Haigh Table in December 1980 and published a color brochure, ‘The Haigh Table,’ in conjunction with the table introduction.3 A subsequent portfolio collection of Knoll designs stated of the Haigh Table: “Tops are gray glass or black, medium gray, or dark gray plastic laminate, insert with vinyl gasket extrusion in highlight colors. Anodized aluminum frames in black or gray finish, corners are gray or black.”4 Knoll offered the table in sixty-four sizes.5
Haigh is also credited with the design in 1982 of the Knoll Design Center in Manhattan’s SoHo district, which combined a showroom displaying office and residential furniture with marketing and sales offices.5 The Knoll Design Center opened on June 26th, 1982.6 He founded HAIGHArchitects in 1985 in New York.7
1. Eric Larrabee & Massimo Vignelli, Knoll Design. (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc. Publishers), 1990. 283. See also the 1st edition (1981), pgs. 226, 269, 294-295 and 300-301,
2. Haigh, Paul. Table Easily Assembled from Standardized Parts and Corner Clamping Assembly Usable Therewith. US Patent 4,413,570, filed February 27, 1980 and issued Nov. 8, 1983.
3. Paul Haigh email correspondence, December 18, 2023.
4. “Residential/Fine Furniture . Paul Haigh.” Knoll small brochure portfolio, 1982.
5. “Knoll Designer Bios – Paul Haigh”. https://www.knoll.com/designer/Paul-Haigh.
6. Haigh email correspondence.
7. http://www.haigharchitects.com/profile