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  • Knoll Designer Andreas Christen

Knoll Designer Bios

Andreas Christen

b. Switzerland
1936-2007

Before opening his own design office in Zurich in 1960, Andreas Christen studied design at the Kunstgewerbe-Schule under former Bauhaus master, HansFischli. A practicing sculptor throughout his career, Christen's geometric wall sculptures have been exhibited in galleries worldwide.

Christen began working for Knoll in early 1967 when he joined Bill Stephens and Don Albinson on the research and development of two integrated office systems: the Stephens and Christen Systems. The Christen System was intended as an industrially-styled counterpart to the more classic Stephens System. The vinyl-clad steel and aluminum panels and plastic drawers of the Christen System provided a very different aesthetic to the predominantly wooden Stephens System, without sacrificing usability. Both products were based on the idea that Knoll systems, with their superior attention to interior architecture, could eliminate the usual haphazard quality of office landscaping — a concept derived from the pioneering work of Florence Knoll.

A collection of tables by Christen, originally a part of the Christen System, remained in production by Knoll through the early 1980s.