Knoll - Risom chair

The first pieces conceived and made by Knoll were made by the designer Jens Risom. Due to wartime restrictions, the materials of the chair were originally made with simple maple frames and discarded parachute straps. Described as good furniture design, the collection helped establish Knoll as one of the first sources of modern design in America.

Jens Risom

Born in Denmark to the renowned architect Sven Risom, Jens worked in Stockholm for a year before graduating from the prestigious Kundstandvaerkerskolen in Copenhagen. Risom left Denmark for the US in 1938 and, for two years, worked as an interior design director at Dan Cooper, Inc. in New York before starting a freelance career specializing in furniture and textiles. It was during this time that he met Hans Knoll. The couple collaborated on an exhibition for the New York World’s Fair. Knoll asked Risom, who was looking for a developer and producer, to help him design interiors for customers in New York.

Knoll

Knoll uses modern design to connect people to their work, to their lives, to their world. Since 1938, it has been internationally recognized for creating furniture for work and residential environments.

For more than 80 years Knoll has remained true to the Bauhaus design philosophy that modern furniture should complement the architectural space. At Knoll, modern design has been the guiding principle and this passion has been shared by customers and design professionals around the world. The founders, Hans and Florence Knoll, embraced the creative genius of the time.  Supported schools were Bauhaus School and Cranbrook Academy of Art to create new types of furniture and workplace environments.

Their approach, where craftsmanship joins technology through the use of design, sets the perspective and shapes the values that live today. 80 years of historical collaborations, with pioneering modernists and daring contemporary designers, define not only the past but the future through active, recent and future collaborations with Antenna Design, Don Chadwick, Formway Design, Jehs & Laub, Joseph D'Urso , David Adjaye and OMA.