​Florence Knoll Furniture: A Key Element That Revolutionized Office Design

The other day while I was looking at photos of my family, I found a particular photo of my grandfather's office - he is a lawyer - noting the differences in interior decoration and details that this place had, in comparison with today’s offices. Then I realized that sometimes we take for granted the changes and the revolution that some engineers, architects, and designers are o was leading, and the effort they have made to set the standards and keep things as optimized as possible.

For me, it is an honor living in times where so many designers have left his legacy as a support for the design evolution. Due to this, I decided to create an article to show a figure of feminism and an icon when it comes to office design, creator of the Florence Knoll chair, and owner of the Knoll company.

Let’s get to know her and the work she has made to evolute the design industry.

Florence Knoll: One of the most influential figures in the office revolution

Office design has been a whole process that approx begins in 1726 when the first building dedicated to centralized office work was created in London England at the dawn of the industrial revolution. Over the years and two world wars later, the needs of civilization changed, and the optimization and functionality were the essential features people wanted in furniture, workplaces, buildings, ado so on.

Here is when Florence Knoll comes, she was an architecture and designer who grew up in Michigan. She studied at Kingswood School for Girls, which was adjacent to the Cranbrook Academy of Art, this particular fact was of utmost importance because due to this she knew to the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen and her family, with whom he would later study at Cranbrook.

After years, she had the pleasure of learning under some of the biggest names in 20th-century architecture, including Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

A defining stage in Florence's life was when she met her, now husband, Hans Knoll. Her designing habilities and his business insights were the strong roots for his now leader arbiter and design furniture company; Knoll.

This is when her design skills and her ability to innovate areas make sense and begin to materialize different optimal solutions for workspaces, humanizing interior design and introducing concepts related to optimization, such as efficiency, space planning, and comprehensive design into office planning.

After Hans Knoll dead she took control of the company and lead it in the right direction, being one of the only women taking control of such a big company. Florence, with her fierceness and uncompromising aesthetics, changed not only the face of interior office design but also showed all women within the design industry a way forward where they can also sit behind a desk of CEO.

Florence Knoll armchair, a masterpiece still in use

This is a Mid-Century Modern model upholstered in leather with an astonishing aesthetic, visually welcoming, and with dimension that most users wants. Perfect to place in any office and even living rooms. Its finishes are formed with flexible aniline, natural oils, and waxes to give it an attractive and, at the same time, sophisticated appearance.