The Vincent Cafiero Desk introduced by Knoll around 1974 and manufactured until 19801 is something of an enigma. Cafiero was Senior Designer in the Knoll Planning Unit from 1956 to 1967. He left the Knoll Planning Unit sometime after that to open his own design office, Vincent Cafiero Designs. In April 1971 he filed a trademark application for his company.2 As an accomplished member of the Planning Unit and designer of the executive chair that carried his name still in the catalog, Knoll was receptive to Cafiero’s design for a new office desk series.
It was around this time Knoll president Bobby Cadwallader approached Bill Stephens, who had been recently appointed to the position of Manager of the Design Development Group, to design a new office landscape system. The requirement for this new system came from Charles Pfister of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for their client Weyerhaeuser and their new headquarters to be built in Tacoma, Washington. The new office landscape system had to reflect Weyerhaeuser’s core business of timber and lumber products, so the wall panels, desks, pedestals, cabinets and other furnishings had to be predominantly solid wood and wood veneer. Knoll’s existing Andreas Christen Office System did not meet this requirement.
The scope of this new office system involved the entire Design Development Group. Bill Stephens directed the office system design program and quoting from the book Knoll Design, “There were a lot of people who contributed ideas…Alone, I wouldn’t have designed the system.”3 Looking at the Cafiero Desk with Machine Extension pictured here and Knoll’s Archive page on the Cafiero Desk, it is clear Vincent Cafiero was a significant contributor to the Stephens Open Office System. Whether Stephens reached out to Cafiero for design assistance on the office system, or Cafiero approached Knoll’s design group with his proposal for new desk designs is a moot point.
Cafiero’s three primary wood desks in three different lengths (No. 5802, 5805 and 5808), were available with a selection of drawer pedestals and two secretarial desks of two different lengths (No. 5812 and 5816).4 In looking at the Furniture Price List 1977/78 Contract/Residential, the Cafiero desks are not listed but the 5100, 5200 and 5300 Series desks and pedestals having similar dimensions attributed to William Stephens are listed; in all likelihood these were designed by Vincent Cafiero for the Stephens System.5 Author Brian Lutz did include the Cafiero Desk in the Furniture List at the back of his book for the year 1974, but no photo of it was included.6 Nevertheless, the 5800 Series Cafiero Desk was photo-documented in the Knoll Archives online and appears here.
1.“TheCafiero Desk.” https://www.knoll.com/the-archive/.
2. https://trademarks.justia.com/723/88/vincent-cafiero-designs-72388186.html.
3. Eric Larrabee and Massimo Vignelli, Knoll Design. (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc. 1990). 238.
4. Nancy N. Schiffer. Knoll Home & Office Furniture. (Atglen: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2006). 258.
5. The Knoll International Furniture Price List 1977/78 Contract/Residential, pages 81-96. Cafierio’s office chair is on page 11, but his desks are not listed.
6. Brian Lutz, Knoll – A Modernist Universe. (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2010). 296.