Флоренс Кнолл: Архитектор, дизайнер және кәсіпкер өмірі мен шығармашылығы

American architect (1917–2019)

Florence Marguerite Knoll Bassett ( Schust; May 24, 1917 – January 25, 2019) was an American architect, interior designer, furniture designer, and entrepreneur who has been credited with revolutionizing office design and bringing modernist design to office interiors. Knoll and her husband, Hans Knoll, built Knoll Associates into a leader in the fields of furniture and interior design. She worked to professionalize the field of interior design, fighting against gendered stereotypes of the decorator. She is known for her open office designs, populated with modernist furniture and organized rationally for the needs of office workers. Her modernist aesthetic was known for clean lines and clear geometries that were humanized with textures, organic shapes, and colour.

Florence Marguerite Schust was born in Saginaw, Michigan, to Frederick Emanuel (1881–1923) and Mina Matilda (Haist) Schust (1884–1931), and was known in familiar circles as "Shu". Frederick Schust was born about 1882 in either Switzerland or Germany and was a native German speaker. The 1920 United States Federal Census describes him as the superintendent of a commercial bakery. Mina was born about 1887 in Michigan, and her parents had been born in Canada. Knoll was orphaned at a young age, her father died when she was 5, her mother died when she was 12. She was placed under the care of Emile Tessin, who had been designated by Mina Schust as Knoll's legal guardian in the event of her death. Tessin made arrangements for Knoll to attend boarding school. After visiting, Knoll recalled feeling that the Cranbrook educational community was the right place for her. Eliel and Loja Saarinen practically adopted Knoll; she spent summers with the family in Finland and befriended their son, Eero Saarinen who even gave her impromptu architectural history lessons. She attended the architecture department at Cranbrook Academy of Art for one year in 1934–35, In 1935, she studied town planning at the School of Architecture at Columbia University. She returned to Michigan in 1936 to undergo surgery and enrolled in the architecture department at Cranbrook again. In 1936 37, she explored furniture making with Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames. In the summer of 1938 she met Alvar Aalto, who praised Architectural Association in London as a "terrific school," Knoll went on to attend it in 1938 1939. In 1940 1941, Knoll furthered her architectural educations under leading figures of the Bauhaus movement. "Being a woman, I was given interiors," Knoll stated about her time at Harrison & Abramovitz. Knoll Showrooms and retailers expanded internationally, by 1960 the company was doing $15 million dollars of business annually. The Unit's breakthrough came from designing for the CBS president, Frank Stanton, who had been impressed by the Knoll Showrooms. In 1957, Architectural Forum said "the Knoll interior is as much a symbol of modem architecture as Tiffany glass was a symbol of the architecture of Art Nouveau." Nonetheless, almost half of the furniture pieces in the Knoll collection were her designs including tables, desks, chairs, sofas, benches and stools. She designed furniture not only to be functional but also to designate the functions of interior space as well as relate to the architecture of the space and its overall composition. The distinctive features of Knoll's furniture designs were their sleek silhouettes and clear geometries, reflecting her architectural training and interests. Her furniture was designed with the notion of transforming architecture into furniture, which she achieved by translating the structure and language of the modern building into a human scaled object.

Before Knoll's influence, interior decoration was mostly a non professional pursuit, typically practiced by hobbyists. It had previously only been applied to the home; spaces like offices were not typically professionally planned or designed. Knoll saw an opportunity to change that:In those days the boss usually had a decorator. They did his office and maybe some of the other senior executives, but the people further down the line had offices designed by the purchasing agent, who ordered furniture out of a catalog. So when I came along with my questionnaire, I wanted to know what they needed. It was kind of a radical ideal, but it was also logical and obvious. With her Knoll Planning Unit, Knoll radically shifted interior design to be a professional endeavor. Knoll fused decoration with architecture and industrial design and applied it to commercial office space, this fusion has continued to be at the core of modern professional interior design.

She married Hans Knoll in 1946; he died in a car crash in 1955. In 1958 she married Harry Hood Bassett, the son of Harry H. Bassett. On January 25, 2019, Florence Marguerite Knoll Bassett died at age 101 in Coral Gables, Florida.