This is Knoll: Scenes from the 2017 Salone Internazionale del Mobile

From April 4 to 9, Knoll reprises its stand at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, showcasing new products by Italian designer Piero Lissoni and refreshed classics by Florence Knoll, Eero Saarinen, and Warren Platner.

Once again, Knoll has called on OMA, the acclaimed design studio co-founded by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, to design and install the firm’s stand at this year’s Salone del Mobile. The space has been created to adapt to the flow of visitors through the use of mobile partitions. The walls of the main diagonal are capable of sliding, making it possible to divide the stand into two separate sections or to keep the area as open as possible.

OMA has chosen different materials that reinforce the concept of heterogeneity and create perfect backdrops for the products of the Knoll collection: soft and solid, organic and synthetic, transparent and opaque.

The OMA-designed stand is a hypermodern version of the Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion, where natural stone plays a crucial role. As an expert partner of OMA in the implementation of complex architectural projects involving natural stone, SolidNature has assisted in testing the limits of material transformation, using some of the world’s most exclusive types of marble, like SolidNature’s signature travertine, with a heightened elegance and lightness.

In addition, architectural glass panels by Rotterdam-based designer Sabine Marcelis represent a true experiment, combining glass, metal and touches of color to create architectural panels that act as spatial dividers or theatrical wings. OMA asked the designer to create a custom project for “This is Knoll” at the Salone del Mobile 2017.

This year, a large space has been given over to the new Avio Sofa System, Grasshopper Tables and Matrioska Credenza from Piero Lissoni, which are integrated with classics designed by Florence Knoll, Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen and Harry Bertoia, as well as  more recent products from Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby.

Grasshopper represents a perfect combination of pure geometry and synthesis of design, beginning from the notion that the modern table is where key decisions are taken, accommodating a range of functions from family reunions to business meetings.

"If this table could be described with just two words, they would be flared and lightweight," explained Lissoni. "Indeed, Grasshopper borrows its name from the animal that has six precision tools for legs. Here there are four, equally long and incredible and yet perfectly functional. Above them sits a top that is so thin that it looks able to lift up and take to the air. An object that is so weightless and compact that it works perfectly with all the chairs of the Knoll range. And then I wanted it to have the height of a classic table, just a little lower than those of today, a few centimeters less to promote privileged refinement around the table."

The elegance of Grasshopper derives from its combination of surfaces and structure: the surfaces are distinguished by their slenderness and are available in a rectangular form that incorporates rounded corners or in a circular format, while the structure is composed of very thin, high-performance cast steel elements available in chrome, burnished or lacquered finishes. The tabletop is available in uncommon and exquisite stone, glass, and heat-treated or fossil woods.

Each element of the collection expresses the value of Knoll craftsmanship, evidenced in the working of raw materials of the highest quality, and careful and passionate detailing that confers a special charm to these extremely versatile tables.

Grasshopper also includes a family of low tables conceived as a minimal planetary system.  Suspended at different heights, they turn as if floating in thin air, supporting the hypothesis that a gentle spirit is an ethereal gift. The low tables use the same materials and combine with the main round tabletop to produce secondary, differently sized tables that can be moved along the perimeter, tracing out circular orbits.

The versatility of these tables derives not only from their clear, geometric aesthetic and their different sizes and heights, but also from the variety of finishes available for the top. Easily adaptable, they add an equally refined touch to the private living room or the public lounge area.

Read the full press release here.