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Knoll Designer Bios

Michael McCoy

b. USA, 1944

An industrial design graduate from Michigan State University, Michael McCoy was the co-chair of the Design Department at the Cranbrook Academy of Art for twenty-three years and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art in London from 1994 to 1996. An award-winning designer of products, furniture and interiors, he is also an innovator in design thinking. McCoy’s design strategies for interpreting technology and information have been widely published, and he lectures internationally on the subject.

As one half of Fahrnstrom/McCoy Design Consultants, he co-designed the Bulldog chair for Knoll in 1990. Succeeding the Diffrient Chair, the Bulldog family was the next generation of Knoll office seating to be informed by extensive ergonomic and market research. The Bulldog was a top-selling product for nearly two decades, selling over one million units.

Michael McCoy’s work has been exhibited in museums worldwide, and he is the co-author of Cranbrook Design: The New Discourse published by Rizzoli. He is also a partner in the design firm of McCoy & McCoy with his wife, Katherine.