Knoll Textiles, 1945-2010 Angela Völker, Paul Makovsky, Susan Ward, Earl Martin, Bobbye Tigerman

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 colour 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. With essays by experts, biographies of about eighty designers, and images of textiles, drawings, furniture, and ephemera, Knoll Textiles, 1945-2010 is the first comprehensive study devoted to a leading contributor to modern textile design. Highlighting the individuals and ideas that helped shape Knoll Textiles over the years, this book brings the Knoll brand and the role of textiles in the history of design to the forefront of public attention.

"A must for any design aficionado" —The Clerkenwell Post

"A remarkable book... a fascinating story."—Selvedge

"The great virtue of this book is the wealth of original research. As well as drawing on documentation in the Knoll archives, valuable information has been painstakingly extracted from contemporary magazines."—Lesley Jackson, Crafts Magazine

'A beautiful edition by experts, designers and fans."—Homes and Interiors Scotland

"A joy to use… Knoll Textiles provides much additional information pertinent to studies of European textiles and furniture design." Mary Schoeser, Text Vol. 39

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