Florence Knoll

Florence Knoll (1917 - 2019), née Schust, was an internationally renowned American architect and designer who made a significant contribution to the birth of the concept of interior design and ^20th century modernism.

At a very young age, she began studying art at the Kingswood School and then at theCranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. During these years she was taught by the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen and met his son, Eero Saarinen with whom she developed a strong friendship. Her education continued in New York at theColumbia University School of Architecture with, among others, the following teachers Charles Eames. Florence Knoll also spent a year at theArchitectural Association in London and a year at theArmour Institute (now the Illinois Institute of Technology) where she studied under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who had a great influence on her approach to design.

In the early 1940s, she met Hans Knoll, her future husband, who ran a furniture company in New York. They married in 1946 and founded Knoll Associates. Very quickly, the company became a true legend in the furniture industry, associating the greatest names in post-war design such as Eero Saarinen, Pierre Jeanneret and Isamu Noguchi. In 1951, Knoll became Knoll International. The talented designer played a major role in this success, designing several major pieces such as the Relax sofa and armchair. Displaying a keen sense of interior design, Florence Knoll gradually conceived and created the essence of the brand with the leitmotif of converting Americans to themodernist aesthetic, a sober style without ornamentation.

Some of his own creations will become icons of ^20th century design thanks to their timelessness. A vintage furniture with clean lines in neutral tones that still fits perfectly in our interiors today.