Florence Knoll

Florence Marguerite Knoll (Schust) who furnished Corporate America, was born on May 24th 1917 in Saginaw, Michigan. Her father (a superintendent of commercial bakery) died when she was 5, her mother died when she was 12. She was placed under the care of Emile Tessin (per her mother's will). Tessin made arrangements for Florence to attend boarding school.

Florence attended Kingswood School for Girls (1932-1934), part of the Cranbrook Educational Community in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. While Florence was in Cranbrook, she was mentored by Rachel de Wolfe Raseman (the art director at Kingswood). Together, they designed a home which integrated interior and exterior (at time Florence was 14). That work brought her to the attention of Eliel Saarinen (President of Cranbrook Art Academy). Eliel and his wife (Loja) practically adopted Knoll such that she spent summers with their family in Finland while she was in Cranbrook. Florence and Eero (Eliel's son) quickly became friends and Eero gave Florence impromptu architectural history lessons. Florence took architectural courses at Cranbook Academy during 1934–35. In 1935, she started town planning studies at the School of Architecture at Columbia University. However due to health issues, she returned to Michigan in 1936 and enrolled in Cranbrook's architectural coursese , again. During this time (1936-1937), she explored furniture-making with Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames. In the summer of 1938 she met Alvar Aalto, who praised the Architectural Association in London a "terrific school". Knoll decided to attended that school from 1938-1939. There she enjoyed the focus on studio work and was influenced by Le Corbusier's International style.

In early 1940 due to wide spread of World War II, she moved back to USA (Cambridge, MA), and worked briefly as an unpaid apprentice for Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. Though her studies had been interrupted, repeatedly, due to health and international events (World War II), Knoll was determined to complete her undergraduate degree. In fall of 1940, she enrolled at the Chicago Armour Institute (now the Illinois Institute of Technology). She mainly studied under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for her a bachelor's degree in architecture. While from 1940 to 1941 she has work with influential Bauhuas movement designers, her design was profoundly influenced by Mies, resulting timeless design with rigorous geometries.

After graduation from college, Knoll moved to New York in 1941, and toke jobs in various firms, including Harrison & Abramovitz. Knoll stated about her time at Harrison & Abramovitz "Being a woman, I was given interiors!,". In that firm she met and worked with Hans Knoll to design an office for Harry Stimson. Following their first project together, she continued moonlighting as a designer for the Hans G. "Knoll Furniture Company". In 1943, she joined the Hans Knoll's company and founded their interior design service, the "Knoll Planning Unit". She and Hans Knoll got married in 1946, when she became a full business partner and the company became "Knoll Associates, Inc". After death of Hans in 1961 (due to car crash) Florence Knoll became the president of Knoll company and ran the company until 1965 (retired). She was a very talented designer which thrived and revolutionized the post WWII interior design of offices in a male dominated era (Mad Man era). Her major designs includes IBM and GM tech centers.

Florence Knoll lived until Jan 15th 2019 (nearly 101 years) despite of ill health in youth and left a forever lasting legacy.

Florence's work , or the designs inspired by her work, can be found as furniture in any modern household or office, nowadays.