In his 2012 interview with the Smithsonian Institution, Richard Schultz stated his career with Knoll spanned twenty years.1 Having helped Harry Bertoia with the development of his wireform chairs, this meant Schultz left Knoll in the early 1970s to pursue other design opportunities.
His entire working career, Schultz was a designer of furniture; he was not an industrial designer that designed an occasional furniture piece. Like Don Albinson, Charles Pollock, and other Knoll designers of the 1960s, Schultz had a love for furniture design that he found rewarding. He had great success working at Knoll, and even after he left, he harbored the thought he would design for the company again.
He did, and he designed the No. 1462 settee and No. 1453 sofa Knoll produced in the mid-1970s. Schultz returned to Knoll again in 1981 with designs for a steel tube chair having simple lines, was easy to fabricate and upholster, and roughly the same price as Breuer Cesca chair. The No. 1407 armchair and No. 1408 armless chair were introduced by Knoll between 1981and 1982. They remained in production until the latter 1980s to 1990.2
1. Nanette L. Laitman, interview with Richard Schultz, Smithsonian Archives of American Art. Washington, DC. September 25-26, 2012.
2. Knoll Contract Seating Price List, April 1986. 50-51. The Schultz 1407 and 1407 chairs were not listed in the KnollStudio Pricelist 1988 but may have been listed in the contract catalog. The Knoll online Archive states the chair were manufactured until 1990.