Florence Knoll

Florence Knoll Bassett (born 1917) is an American architect and furniture designer who studied under Mies van der Rohe and Eliel Saarinen. She was born in Saginaw, Michigan as Florence Schust. She graduated from the Kingswood School before studying at the famous Cranbrook Academy of Art. She briefly worked with leaders of the Bauhaus movement, including Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. In 1938, Hans Knoll founded his furniture company by that name in New York. In 1943, Florence Schust convinced Hans she could help bring in business to his company even in America's wartime economy by expanding into interior design by working with architects. With her architectural background and design flair, she succeeded. They married in 1946, she became a full business partner and together they founded Knoll Associates. A new furniture factory was established in Pennsylvania and dealers in Knoll's furniture were added over the next years. When Hans Knoll died in a car accident in 1955, Florence Knoll took over operation of the company. Florence Knoll herself designed chairs, sofas and tables during the 1950s, many of which remain in the Knoll line to this day.