Florence Schust met Hans Knoll in 1941. Knoll had established the Hans G. Knoll Furniture Company in New York, producing a range of modern furniture designed by Jens Risom. Florence was an architect who had studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, at the Architectural Association, London and under Mies van der Rohe at the Armory Institute, Chicago. Florence Schust had also worked for Marcel Breuer and Walter Gropius.
In 1943, she was taken on as an interior designer for Hans Knoll and re-directed the company’s product line from the Scandinavian style to International style. She also married Hans Knoll and as a partner in Knoll Associates, Inc., Knoll Textiles, Inc. and Knoll International, continued to run the business after her husband’s death.
Florence Knoll’s own designs are reserved, cool and angular, reflecting her modernist sensibility and perhaps the influence of childhood friend Eero Saarinen. While she is modest about her own accomplishments, it was through Florence that Knoll began to manufacture modern sculptural furniture such as the Tulip chair by Saarinen, Isamu Noguchi’s coffee table and Harry Bertoia’s Diamond chair.
In 1948, Knoll also acquired the rights to produce Mies van der Rohe’s furniture designs. During the 1950’s Florence Knoll continued to fashion the distinctive Knoll look, overseeing all aspects of the corporate identity, from showroom design to graphic design. She also recruited Swiss designer Herbert Matter to create a series of compelling posters advertising Knoll products and the Knoll logo.
In 1967, the Knoll identity was strengthened by Massimo Vignelli, who designed the bold graphics that represent Knoll today. Knoll is one of the most respected and third largest manufacturers of contract furnishings in the world. Florence Knoll, set the company on the path that has led to its prominent position as a highly innovative industry leader today. "I design the gap-fillers," she once said. Clearly, she did much more.
