Richard Schultz
For half a century, Richard Schultz has been designing outdoor furniture, first at Knoll where he assisted Harry Bertoia and developed his own lines, and after 1972 as a freelancer. Ten years ago, he launched his own collection that included his reissued Knoll classics, such as the Petal Table and the chaise on wheels, plus new designs like Café 2000 and Topiary.

Schultz has always managed to work independently without clients or assignments, defining his own projects that he then sells to manufacturers for production. What interests him most are materials and techniques. “The challenge,” he said during a recent interview with DWR, “is creating a beautiful form that works as a chair.” It must be comfortable as well as aesthetically pleasing. He admires basic, irreducible Shaker designs and Modern Eames’ furniture and strives for simplicity in his own work.