Knoll
Knoll
Est. 1938
About
Knoll is an American furniture manufacturer based in East Greenville, Pennsylvania, producing seating, tables, desking and office systems, storage, outdoor furniture and textiles for commercial and residential interiors, founded in 1938. The company began in New York City, where Hans Knoll established the Hans G. Knoll Furniture Company in a small space on East 72nd Street in 1938. He came from a German furniture-making family: his father, Walter C. Knoll, produced early Mies van der Rohe designs at his Stuttgart factory. Florence Schust, who trained at Cranbrook Academy of Art and took an architecture degree from the Armour Institute, now the Illinois Institute of Technology, moved to New York in 1941 and met Hans Knoll while he was establishing the business; they married in 1946. Manufacturing was set up in an old dance hall in East Greenville, Pennsylvania, which Knoll describes as its first manufacturing plant, and the town remains its corporate address. After Hans Knoll's death in 1955, Florence Knoll led the company as president, resigning that role in 1960 to concentrate on design and development and retiring in 1965. The business passed through several owners thereafter, including General Felt Industries from 1983, Westinghouse from 1990 and Warburg Pincus from 1996, and traded on the New York Stock Exchange as KNL until 19 July 2021, when Herman Miller, Inc. completed its acquisition. The parent was renamed MillerKnoll, Inc. on 1 November 2021, when its Nasdaq ticker changed from MLHR to MLKN, and Knoll continues to operate as a distinct brand within that group. Knoll's range combines production of architect-designed furniture with work commissioned from contemporary designers. KnollStudio produces pieces by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, Harry Bertoia, Eero Saarinen and Florence Knoll, while later collaborations have involved Piero Lissoni, Antonio Citterio and Marc Newson. In 1946 Florence Knoll formed the Knoll Planning Unit, an interior planning arm of what was then H.G. Knoll Associates, which produced complete interiors for clients including Connecticut General Life Insurance, the Columbia Broadcasting System and Cowles Publications. Recurring materials include tubular steel, as in Breuer's Wassily chair of 1925, welded steel rod, reinforced fibreglass, belting leather and woven textiles. Alongside KnollStudio, the business is organised around Knoll Office, whose workplace systems include Rockwell Unscripted, Antenna Workspaces, AutoStrada and Reff Profiles; KnollTextiles, which develops fabrics for interiors; and KnollExtra, covering desktop accessories, monitor arms and technology management. Among the designs most closely associated with the company is the Barcelona chair, created by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for his 1929 German Pavilion at the International Exhibition in Barcelona. Knoll's version pairs a steel frame in polished chrome or an ultra-matte onyx finish with cowhide belting leather straps and hand-welted, hand-tufted cushions, each frame stamped with the Knoll logo and the designer's signature. The Womb chair, designed by Eero Saarinen and dated by Knoll to 1948, answered Florence Knoll's request for a chair "like a basket full of pillows"; it uses a reinforced fibreglass shell with a foam core and polyester fibre padding on a steel rod base. Harry Bertoia's wire collection of 1952, which includes the Diamond and Bird chairs, is built from welded steel rods in chrome, gold plating or a Rilsan coating. Knoll furniture is specified for corporate workplaces and private offices, and the company site lists commercial products for education, healthcare and government organisations alongside a residential range for living, dining, outdoor and home office settings. The Richard Schultz 1966 Collection, designed at Florence Knoll's request for outdoor furniture that could withstand corrosive ocean air, remains the outdoor line. Products reach buyers through the brand's official website and its dealer network, Knoll showrooms in cities including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Toronto, and Design Within Reach, a sister brand within MillerKnoll that carries a Knoll Classics range. Environmental documentation published by Knoll covers UL GREENGUARD certification for chemical emissions, the BIFMA level standard, FSC-certified wood, Declare labels from the International Living Future Institute, and Environmental Product Declarations. Knoll is a long-established American manufacturer of office and residential furniture, operating from East Greenville, Pennsylvania as one of the brands within the MillerKnoll group.
Specifications
- Categories
- officehomehealthcareeducational
- Price Range
- $$$
- Founded
- 1938
- Headquarters
- East Greenville, Pennsylvania, United States
- Certifications
- GREENGUARDBIFMA LEVELFSCIntertek Clean Air Gold
Resources
Common Questions
Knoll's corporate address is 1235 Water Street, East Greenville, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The company started in New York City, and Knoll's own account of its history describes the East Greenville site as an old dance hall that became its first manufacturing plant. Its parent company, MillerKnoll, Inc., is headquartered in Zeeland, Michigan.
Knoll was founded in 1938 in New York City by Hans Knoll, who set up the Hans G. Knoll Furniture Company in a small space on East 72nd Street. He came from a German furniture-making family; his father, Walter C. Knoll, produced early Mies van der Rohe designs at his Stuttgart factory. Florence Schust, who trained at Cranbrook Academy of Art and took an architecture degree from the Armour Institute, married Hans Knoll in 1946 and led the company as president after his death in 1955, resigning that role in 1960.
Knoll is known for office and workplace systems, seating, tables, storage, outdoor furniture and contract textiles, alongside a residential range. Its most recognisable pieces include the Barcelona chair, created by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for the 1929 German Pavilion in Barcelona and produced by Knoll, and the Womb chair, designed by Eero Saarinen and dated by Knoll to 1948. Harry Bertoia's welded steel rod collection of 1952, which includes the Diamond chair, is also produced by the company, as is Marcel Breuer's tubular steel Wassily chair of 1925.
Knoll is owned by MillerKnoll, Inc., which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker MLKN. Herman Miller, Inc. completed its acquisition of Knoll on 19 July 2021, and the parent company was renamed MillerKnoll, Inc. on 1 November 2021, when its ticker changed from MLHR to MLKN. Knoll continues to operate as a distinct brand within the group, alongside Herman Miller, HAY, Muuto, Geiger, Design Within Reach and others.
Knoll products are available through the brand's official website and its dealer network, along with Knoll showrooms in cities including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Toronto. Commercial buyers typically specify through authorised contract dealers, and Design Within Reach, a sister brand within MillerKnoll, carries a Knoll Classics range. furniture.directory is an independent directory and does not sell furniture directly.
Knoll publishes environmental documentation covering UL GREENGUARD certification for chemical emissions and the BIFMA level standard, a voluntary multi-attribute product standard. The company also lists FSC-certified wood, Declare material-transparency labels administered by the International Living Future Institute, and Environmental Product Declarations based on life-cycle assessment. Its sustainability pages additionally reference the LEED and WELL building standards and the Living Building Challenge framework.