Hans G. Knoll (1914–1955) was a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

who, together with his wife, Florence Knoll, founded Knoll, the well-known design company and furniture manufacturer.

Biography

Hans Knoll was born in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

in 1914. His father was a modern furniture

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

, who supported the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

regime.Logemann, Jan
"Hans Knoll."
In ''Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present'', vol. 5, edited by R. Daniel Wadhwani. German Historical Institute. Last modified March 25, 2014. Perhaps because of his father's views, or perhaps because he wanted to follow many other German modernists who had emigrated, Knoll left Germany in 1936, and first moved to England. In 1938, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to found a furniture manufacturing company of his own. In 1941, he paired with furniture designer

Jens Risom Jens Risom ( ; 8 May 1916 – 9 December 2016) was a Danish American furniture designer. An exemplar of Mid-Century modern design, Risom was one of the first designers to introduce Scandinavian design in the United States. Biography Risom was bo ...

to launch the Hans Knoll Furniture Company. Risom designed 15 of the 20 pieces of furniture in the Hans Knoll Furniture Company's "600" line, which began production in 1941. In 1943, Knoll was approached by Florence Schust, an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

who had studied under

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloy ...

and

Eliel Saarinen Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish-American architect known for his work with art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was also the father of famed architect Eero Saarinen. Lif ...

. Schust convinced Knoll that she could help bring in business to his company even in America's wartime economy by expanding into

interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordin ...

and working with

architects An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. With her architectural background and design flair, she succeeded. Knoll fell in love with Schust, and in 1946 they were married. At that time, they changed the name of the company to Knoll Associates. In 1943 Knoll assisted the war effort by helping the US Air Force construct the

German Village German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of the city's downtown. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city's ...

, a simulation of German working class dwellings to be used to perfect fire-bombing techniques on German residential areas. The Knolls determined that, although they were focused on modern design, they would also abide by the values of the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...

: design excellence, technological innovation and

mass production Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and ba ...

. They paid

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...

to their designers based on how well the designer's furniture sold, a practice that was innovative at the time. In this way, they were able to attract the design services of Harry Bertoia and

. Knoll Associates also acquired the rights to the Barcelona chair designed by

. In 1945, Knoll launched its Knoll Planning Unit under Florence's direction. She also launched a

textiles Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

division in 1947. Knoll moved the firm's headquarters to

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in 1950, believing that he would be able to find talented craftsmen among the region's large German population. Knoll's sales force included Irving Blum, who was soon to become

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

's dealer for the groundbreaking Campbell's Soup Can show at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles in 1962. Knoll had his Porsche sent to Cuba for a business trip, and died in a car crash with a runaway truck in 1955 at the age of 41. He was survived by his widow Florence who became president of their company and his two children from an earlier marriage, Peter Knoll and Maria (Maja) Knoll.

References

External links

Profile from R Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knoll, Hans 1914 births 1955 deaths American businesspeople German emigrants to the United States