Curbed on "Cranbrook's Golden Age"

A recent Curbed feature spotlights the Cranbrook Academy of Art and its uniquely formative place in American modernism's development. The piece, published November 17, describes the pre-war period when future heavyweights of modern design attended the school, collaborating, researching and defining their signature approaches to design, art and technology that would steer the course of modernism in the United States.

Among these pioneers were Florence Knoll, whose leadership would redefine Knoll's role in the workplace and interiors industries, and Eero Saarinen and Harry Bertoia, whose work for Knoll would help establish the company as an advocate of progressive, beautiful, modern design. Led by architect Eliel Saarinen and with their peers Charles and Ray Eames, Ralph Rapson, Marianne Strengell, Maija Grotell and Carl Milles, this formidable group of students was encouraged to experiment across media, processes and all aspects and scales of design.

"More than a set of formative experiences, the Cranbrook Academy  of Art was a way of thinking, providing collaborations and contests that unleashed the creativity and skill of design pioneers," Curbed writes. For Knoll, these relationships and design experiences fostered at Cranbrook would prove invaluable to the company's early history and enduring legacy.

Illustrations by Paige Vickers for curbed.com

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