Designcraft

A champion of the modern movement and protégé of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer is equally celebrated for his achievements in architecture and furniture. Breuer was a student and subsequently a master carpenter at the Bauhaus in the early 1920s. His entire body of work, both architecture and furniture, embodies the driving Bauhaus objective to reconcile art and industry. While at the Bauhaus, Breuer revolutionized the modern interior with his tubular-steel furniture collection — inspired by bicycle construction and fabricated using the techniques of local plumbers.

Born to world famous architect and Cranbrook Academy of Art director Eliel Saarinen and textile artist Loja Saarinen, Eero Saarinen was surrounded by design his entire life. 

Eero, who was known for being obsessed with revision, took a sculptural approach to furniture design, building hundreds of models and full scale mock-ups to achieve the perfect curve, find the right line, and derive the most pleasing proportions. His designs, which employed modern materials in graceful, organic shapes, helped establish the reputation and identity of Knoll during its formative years.

Warren Platner studied at Cornell University, graduating in 1941 with a degree in architecture. He went on to work with legendary architects Raymond Loewy, Eero Saarinen, and I. M. Pei before opening his own architecture practice. Platner made notable architectural contributions throughout his career, including the Georg Jensen Design Center and the Windows on the World restaurant in the World Trade Center, both in New York City.

Harry Bertoia was a complete and gifted artist. Knoll historian Brian Lutz once said “Bertoia’s paintings were better than his sculptures. And his sculptures were better than his furniture. And his furniture was absolutely brilliant.”

As a rising figure of the modernist movement, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was selected to design the German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona.

Mathieu is a trained furniture designer with a background in cabinet-making and graphic design. A combination which has given him both dexterous fingers and an eye for details. As a designer, Mathieu is inspired by finding innovativesolutions with a historical connection and working out how to make a good idea even better. Not least through close attention to detail and the design of products that strike a balance between concept, functionality and contemporary requirements.

Architect, sculptor and designer Yngve Ekström is an excellent representative of the blonde Scandinavian design of the 20th century. With peer designers, Yngve Ekström created innovative, light-weight bentwood furniture with timeless elegance, many of which are now classics. He had an ability to unite the austere with light-weight, functionality with beauty. Jack of all trades, Yngve designed logotypes, advertisements, catalogues and photographed his own creations.

Carl Malmsten (1888-1972) was one of Sweden's great artistic talents in the 20th century, as is evidenced today, more than a hundred years later, by the fact that his works adorn so many Swedish homes.