When the industrial designer Jonathan Olivares was appointed senior vice president of design at US furniture company Knoll last June, it felt like the turning of a tide. As an originator of American design since its founding in 1938 by Hans and Florence Knoll, with icons such as Marcel Breuer’s ‘Wassily’ chair (1925) and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich’s ‘Barcelona’ chair (1929) both under trademarks in its control, the once-pioneering company had endured several years of uncertainty, including being acquired by Herman Miller for an epic $1.8bn in 2021, and keeping a relatively low profile before that.
The shake-up (and wake-up) that Knoll supporters have been waiting for appears to have arrived with Olivares’ appointment. As a custodian of Knoll’s design legacy, Olivares has been tasked with overseeing future Knoll designs, which he plans to do with a community of international designers. And it all comes to fruition for the first time this month at Salone del Mobile. With a pavilion designed by Belgian architecture firm Office KGDVS, a new outdoor collection by Piero Lissoni, a reissue of Eero Saarinen’s iconic round table in a new size, and a host of other renewals of classic products, including the 1966 Collection by Richard Schultz, Knoll’s presence in Milan is set to be about moving forward as much as it is about looking back.
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Denne historien er fra May 2023-utgaven av Wallpaper.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Guiding Light - Designer Joe Armitage follows his grandfather's footsteps in India, reissuing his elegant midcentury lamp and creating a new chandelier for Nilufar Gallery
For some of us, family inheritances I tend to be burdensome, taking up space, emotionally and physically, in both our minds and attics. For the London-based designer and architect Joe Armitage, however, a family heirloom has taken him somewhere lighter and brighter, across generations and continents, and into the path of Le Corbusier. This is the story of a lamp designed by Edward Armitage in India 72 years ago, which has today been expanded into a collection of lights by his grandson Joe.
POLE POSITION
A compact Melbourne house with a small footprint is big on efficiency and experimentation
URBAN OASIS
At an art-filled Mexico City residence, New York designer Giancarlo Valle has put his own spin on the country's traditional craft heritage
WARM FRONT
Designer Clive Lonstein elevates his carefully curated Manhattan home with rich textures and fabrics
BALCONY SCENE
A Brazilian island hotel offers a unique approach to the alfresco experience
ENSEMBLE CAST
How architect Anne Holtrop is leaving his mark on the Middle East
Survival mode
A new show looks at preparing for a post-apocalyptic landscape (and other catastrophes)
FLASK FORCE
A limited-edition perfume collaboration between two Spanish craft masters says it with flowers
BLOOM SERVICE
A flower-shaped brutalist beauty in Geneva gets a refresh
SECOND NATURE
A remodelled museum in Lisbon, by Kengo Kuma & Associates, meshes Japanese and Portuguese influences to create a space that sits in harmony with its surroundings
