Jk 720 Lounge Chair by Jørgen Kastholm for Kill International, 1970s

Born in Roskilde, Denmark, Jørgen Kastholm (1931-2007) was a prolific architect and industrial designer from the Scandinavian modern era, who is best known for his classic midcentury designs in collaboration with business partner Preben Fabricius.

It is speculated that sometime in the early 1950s, Kastholm spent time studying design in the US, where he became inspired by design luminaries Charles Eames (1907-1978) and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969). In 1953, he apprenticed as a blacksmith before continuing his education at the School for Interior Design in Copenhagen under architect-designer Finn Juhl (1912-1989).

In 1961, Kastholm founded a design studio in eastern Denmark with partner Preben Fabricius (1931-1984), who he met during his studies. They were primarily concerned with pairing functional design with a minimalist aesthetic, and advocated for simplicity and timelessness. They began working for German manufacturer Alfred Kill of Kill International, whom they had met after they had exhibited their work at the Fredericia furniture fair in the early 1960s. Their lounge chairs and sofas were made almost exclusively from leather and steel, in contrast to many contemporary designers who preferred to work with wood.

Even though the partnership between Kastholm and Fabricius lasted a total of just seven years, the designs they created during the relatively short period became representative of the midcentury modern design movement. Important designs from the pair include the Scimitar Chair (1962); Bo-562 Sofa and Bo-562 Chair (1963); Scimitar Table (1964); the X Chair (1968)—which bears a striking resemblance to Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Chair (1947); the FK 710 Skater Chair (1968). Both the FK 6725 "Tulip" Chair (1965), which was the first winner of the Germany’s Gute Form prize in 1969 and the Grasshopper Chaise Lounge (1968) have become icons of mid-century design and the duo’s most instantly recognizable creations.

Kastholm also collaborated with the likes of Fritz Hansen, Arne Jacobsen, and Ole Hagen, as well as manufacturers Bo-Ex, Knoll and Ivan Schlechter. He has designed a number of pieces for airport lounges, which can be found in more than 120 different airports world-wide. His designs have been featured in various Hollywood movies, and are housed in the permanent collections of museums around the world including the Louvre in Paris and the Museums of Modern Art in New York and Barcelona.

Kastholm continued to teach furniture design and product development at the University of Wuppertal in Germany and stayed active in design until his death in 2007.

Hans Knoll was born in 1914 in Stuttgart, Germany, into the successful manufacturing family behind Walter Knoll & Co. Early-20th-century Germany was an epicenter of modernist design theory—most notably expressed in the products and practices of the Deutscher Werkbund association of artists, architects, designers, and industrialists, as well as the influential Bauhaus school—which advocated for design rooted in the principles of rationality, functionalism, and mass production. This milieu had a profound influence on Hans and inspired him to produce furniture for the new age. In 1937, after a stint in London, he moved to the United States and brought his modernist vision with him.

Florence Knoll (neé Schust) was born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1917 and from an early age exhibited a strong interest in architecture. After graduating from the Kingswood School for Girls in 1934, she moved across campus to the newly formed, Bauhaus-inspired Cranbrook Academy of Art to study architecture under recent émigré, Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen. There she befriended future design luminaries Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen. She went on to Columbia University’s School of Architecture to study town planning. In 1937, she apprenticed under former-Bauhaus professors Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a few years later, enrolled at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became a life-long mentor to her.

In 1938, Hans Knoll established The Hans G. Knoll Furniture Company as a furniture exporter in a small space on East 72nd Street in New York City. As the company quickly grew, it evolved into a manufacturing business. In 1941, he opened his first plant in a former dance hall in East Greenville, Pennsylvania and hired Danish designer Jens Risom, who eventually helped him develop the first, original Knoll furniture designs. That same year, Hans met Florence on an interior design project and, recognizing her exceptional taste and eye, hired her to bring in business with architects and interior designers and, later, to provide in-house planning and interior design expertise for a growing corporate clientele. In 1946, Hans and Florence married and renamed the company Knoll Associates. That same year, the Knolls formally established the Planning Unit, solidifying the company’s role in the design of interior spaces. In 1951, Knoll International was launched as the German and French arms of Knoll, producing Knoll designs for the European market. Sadly, Hans died in a tragic car crash in 1955, but Florence remained actively involved until she retired in 1965.

Knoll’s signature pieces include Breuer’s Wassily Chair (1925), Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Chair (1929/1948), Harry Bertoia’s Diamond Chair (1952), Eero Saarinen’s Tulip Armchair (1957), as well as Florence‘s own furniture collection developed through the 1950s. Knoll’s impressive catalogue includes a who’s-who list of midcentury modern and contemporary design figures, including Jens Risom, Alexander Girard, George Nakashima, Isamu Noguchi, Richard Schultz, Warren Platner, Charles Pollock, Andrew Morrison & Bruce Hannah, Vignelli Associates, Richard Sapper, Maya Lin, Frank Gehry, and Rem Koolhaas. As of this writing, Knoll’s most recent collaboration is with David Adjaye, who designed the Washington Collection for Knoll and the Adjaye Collection for KnollTextiles. Today, the company is particularly focused on meeting the evolving needs of the 21st-century workplace.

In 2011, Knoll received the National Design Award for Corporate and Institutional Achievement from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. The award recognized Knoll’s legacy in American modern design and the company’s commitment to promoting the relationship between good design and quality of life. Knoll designs can be found in the permanent design collections of institutions around the world, including more than 30 acquired by New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

* All images courtesy Knoll, Inc. The David Adjaye Skeleton Chair was photographed by Joshua McHugh.