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    Topiary® Lounge Chair

    Richard Schultz 1996

    Richard Schultz designed the Topiary collection to look like shrubs pruned to look like furniture. The whimsical pieces act as light filters, disappearing into nature and creating patterns of dappled light on the ground below.

     

    Topiary is the only 100% sheet metal seating collection on the market, using a technique that involves bending, stamping and folding sheets of aluminum. The powder coated components make the chair resilient enough to stay outdoors all year round.

    Image Library

    • color Choice White
    • color White
    • color Light Bronze
    • color Weatherable Silver
    • color Onyx
    • color Warm Wood
    • color Chestnut
    • color Dark Bronze
    • color Sky Blue
    • color Terra Cotta
    • color Daffodil Yellow
    • color Forest Green

    Dimensions

    Additional Info

    Construction and Details
    • Available in a variety of outdoor powder coat finishes
    • Optional pads and pillows available in select KnollTextiles
    • Frame is 3/16” Aluminum stamped and formed
    • Stainless steel connectors
    • Ottoman doubles as an end table
    • Can be bolted down to the ground
    • Glides included
    • Optional fitted outdoor cover available

    Richard Schultz has long been an integral part of the Knoll story. After studying mechanical engineering and design at Iowa State University and the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Schultz joined Knoll in 1951. His first assignment was to assist Harry Bertoia on the development and production of the Bertoia Wire Collection. This led to an 18-month assignment in Europe, establishing and supervising production of the Bertoia designs for Knoll subsidiaries and licensees. After returning to the U.S., he joined the Design Development Group at the Knoll factory in East Greenville, PA.

    Schultz is best known for his outdoor furniture designs. His graceful Petal Table, introduced in 1960, received the design award from Industrial Design magazine. The steel wire-formed 715 Chaise Lounge, which was introduced the following year to complement the Bertoia collection, was selected in 1963 by the Museum of Modern Art for its permanent collection of contemporary furniture. After Florence Knoll moved to a seaside home in Florida, she started sending the design team rusty pieces of furniture, asking them to develop something that could perform in the salty climate. Schultz responded with the aluminum Leisure Collection in 1966.

    After leaving Knoll, Schultz continued to have a successful career designing outdoor collections for his own studio. Knoll acquired Richard Schultz Design in 2012, enabling the re-release of many of Schultz’s classic Knoll designs.