The woman behind Knoll leaves a large legacy of brilliant design Florence Knoll Bassett, the woman behind the modern office, died at the age of 101 last Friday, as the New York Times first reported. Along with her husband Hans Knoll, she built Knoll International into one of the biggest and most influential design companies in history.
Knoll, born Florence Schust in 1917, was steeped in design from a young age. After both of her parents died during her childhood, she was taken in by Loja and Eliel Saarinen, the parents of the influential Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen. Knoll attended the famous Cranbrook Academy of Art, where Eliel Saarinen was the president, and sharpened her natural eye for architecture and furniture design. She also studied under Mies van der Rohe, who would later work with Knoll to bring his furniture designs to a wider audience. ...