ARCHIVE OF MARKETING MATERIALS
Knoll Textiles, Inc.
Offered here is an archive of original Knoll Textiles marketing material issued between 1955 to 1958. This archive consists of vintage textile samples, marketing letters, envelopes, price lists, miscellaneous ephemera and a stunning Harry Bertoia Chairs poster. Please refer to the images and listing text for details:
Knoll Textiles, Inc.: Fabric Samples [x 7]. New York: Knoll Textiles, Inc., 1955. Seven 2.75 x 2.75 fabric samples stapled on Knoll specification cards as issued. Very good examples.
Knoll Textiles, Inc.: Typed Letter Signed. New York: Knoll Textiles, Inc., 1955. Typed letter on Knoll Textiles letterhead signed by Maria Oda and dated April 7, 1955. Housed in matching mailing envelope with an April 7, 1955 postage cancellation. A very good example.
Knoll Textiles, Inc.: Knoll Textile Kit Order Form. New York: Knoll Textiles, Inc., 1955. Textile Kit order form printed on a glossy folded sheet with unused matching Business Rely envelope. A fine example.
Knoll Textiles, Inc.: Knoll Textile Kit Flyer. New York: Knoll Textiles, Inc., 1955. Textile Kit order form printed in full color and folded for mailing as issued. A fine example.
Knoll Textiles, Inc.: Price List. New York: Knoll Textiles, Inc., 1956. Slim quarto. Printed cover sheet stapled with 14 pages of typed fabric specifications dated January 9, 1956. Housed in original mailing envelope with an illegible postage cancellation. A very good copy.
Knoll Textiles, Inc.: Price List. New York: Knoll Textiles, Inc., 1958. Slim oblong quarto. Printed stapled wrappers. 24 pages of nicely designed and typeset fabric specifications dated July 15, 1958. Housed in original mailing envelope with an illegible postage cancellation. With a printed letter dated July 15, 1958 on Knoll letterhead. A fine set.
Knoll Associates: Fabric for Bertoia Chairs. New York: Knoll Associates, Inc., [1958]. Printed glossy sheet with 24 actual fabric samples attached. A very good example of this terrific reference piece.
Herbert Matter, Knoll Associates: Chairs by Bertoia [Poster/Brochure]. New York: Knoll Associates, Inc., [1958]. Poster. 19.5 x 23-inch poster folded in eighths [as issued]. Chair photographs and specifications, delightfully assembled by Herbert Matter. This clever marketing poster presents itself as a 7 x 9.25-inch single fold brochure with “Chairs by Harry Bertoia / Knoll Associates, Inc.” simply typeset on a white glossy field. The “brochure” opens to reveal a black and white showroom photograph of the various Bertoia Wire Chairs. The rear panel features a portrait of Bertoia with several of his wire sculptures and a quotation. The brochure can be unfolded to display a huge stylized Knoll “K” across from the Knoll Showroom addresses. The half-flaps then open to reveal product shots of the Bertoia Chairs with specifications and covering options. Features the Bertoia Side Chair, Plastic Side Chair, Small Diamond Chair, Large Diamond Chair, High Back Chair, Ottoman, and Childrens’ Chairs. A nearly fine example with faint age toning to front panel.
Designers referenced in this archive include Herbert Matter, Suzanne Huguenin, Evelyn Hill, Eszter Haraszty, Anni Albers, Ruben Eshkanian, Angelo Testa, Sven Markelius, Astrid Sampe, Ross Littell, Albert Herbert, Noemi Raymond, Marianne Strengell, Toni Prestini, Franz Lorenz, Dennis Lennon, Inge Toft, Carol Summers, and Harry Bertoia.
In 1940, Hans Knoll founded a company in New York that soon earned a reputation for its progressive line of furniture. Florence Schust joined the firm and helped establish its interior design division, the Knoll Planning Unit. In 1947, the year after their marriage, Hans and Florence Knoll added a third division, Knoll Textiles, which brought textile production in line with a modern sensibility that used color and texture as primary design elements. In the early years, the company hired leading proponents of modern design as well as young, untried designers to create textile patterns. The division thrived in the late 1940s through 1960s and, in the following decade, adopted a more international outlook as design direction shifted to Europe. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Knoll tapped fashion designers and architects to bolster its brand. The pioneering use of new materials and a commitment to innovative design have remained Knoll's hallmarks to the present day.
Italian artist and furniture designer Harry Bertoia (1916 – 1978) was thirty-seven years old when he designed the patented Diamond chair for Knoll in 1952. An unusually beautiful piece of furniture, it was strong yet delicate in appearance, and an immediate commercial success in spite of being made almost entirely by hand. With the Diamond chair, Bertoia created an icon of modern design and introduced a new material, industrial wire mesh to the world of furniture design.
Bertoia’s career began in the 1930’s as a student at the Cranbrook Academy of Art where he re-established the metal-working studio and, as head of that department, taught from 1939 until 1943 when it was closed due to wartime restrictions on materials. During the war, Bertoia moved to Venice, California, and worked with Charles and Ray Eames at the Evans Products Company, developing new techniques for molding plywood.
1946 was a pivotal year for Bertoia. He became an American citizen, moved to Bally, Pennsylvania, near the Knoll factory and established his own design and sculpting studio where he produced numerous successful designs for Knoll. As a sculptor, Bertoia created abstract freestanding metal works, some of which resonated with sound when touched or had moving elements that chimed in the wind. Bertoia received awards from the American Institute of Architects in 1973 and the American Academy of Letters in 1975. All of his work bears the hallmarks of a highly skilled and imaginative sculptor, as well as an inventive designer, deeply engaged with the relationship between form and space.