Herbert Matter's Knoll Logo Restored at Company Headquarters

His first assignment upon arriving to Knoll in 1946, Herbert Matter's redesign of the Knoll logo, completed in 1947, finds it way back on the facade of the brand's headquarters in East Greenville, PA. The now-iconic elongated slab serif logo was a pivotal turning point for the brand's graphic identity, establishing a clear symbol recognized nationally and internationally. The trademark functioned graphically in the company's publications and printed advertisements.

Economy of means lead Matter to create the simplified "K". On his process, he explained, "First I developed the trademark, It was the full word; the K was later. That's the way it started. And from that to the big K." Soon after his first project, Florence Knoll put Matter to work on printed advertisements, on which the large, capital "K" always appeared at the bottom. From here forward, Knoll's new graphic identity took off.

In addition to graphics and ads, Matter worked on product photography and catalog layouts, having an unparalleled degree of creative freedom. Matter worked with Knoll until 1966, when he then left to work on a self-published book on sculptor and friend Alberto Giacometti. Over the course of his twenty-year period at Knoll, Matter left behind numerous Knoll ads and artful strips of film, yet none had the long-lasting impact that his logo had achieved.