What Drives Us

Knoll is a constellation of design-driven brands and people, working together with our clients to create inspired modern interiors. Since 1938, we’ve been thinking about how people interact with their environments, and how their environments impact what they do. 

Here are the ideas essential to our work:

1. Constellation

We are a constellation of people, collaborators, products and brands, united by a rigorous process, shared experience and a distinct modern sensibility. Our strength in office systems, seating, furniture, textiles, leather, and architectural and acoustical elements allows us to compose integrated solutions drawing on a range of products and services that naturally work together.

2. Harmony

We team together across categories and brands to address the unique needs of each client with products that interact and expand seamlessly. Harmonious relationships are both functional and aesthetic; our broad range of offerings allows us to create tailored, cohesive spaces and scale to meet any challenge.

3. Modernity

Modernism in design was born as a means toward social good. It rejected frivolous ornamentation, privileged functionality, and envisioned a world in which technology could transform society for the better. Hans and Florence Knoll and their many collaborators inaugurated a new era of integrated design based on principles that remain vital today. We are what we know, and what we do, as much as what we make.

4. Design

Design transcends style, it creates coherence in a chaotic world. Steeped in the history of modernism, our vision is carried forward today by the most talented contemporary designers to bring order and beauty to life and work. Well-designed objects deliver efficiency, joy and satisfaction to the people who use them.

5. Work/Life

The nature of work has fundamentally shifted. As the boundary between living and working blurs, so does the essential nature of the workspace. It is our business to monitor the cultural dynamics that impact environments and imagine flexible products that both address current conditions, promote well-being, and anticipate inevitable change.

6.   Sustainability

Our clean manufacturing practices minimize impact by conserving natural resources and reducing waste. We also help our clients achieve LEED certification. But our most essential environmentalism is simply anti-obsolescence. Our products are designed to endure, both physically and stylistically. Things that work are things you keep.

7. Future

Design is inherently about the future, a plan for tackling problems yet to come. The goal of our innovation is always both timelessness and adaptability—rejecting short-term trends and anticipating the inevitability of change—as we continue to balance what’s next and what is. 

Knoll is Modern Always
because modern always works.