One of the first companies to dedicate its fabric production to the needs of interior design in the second half of the 20th century was founded in the United States in 1947 by Florence Knoll and is still a Knoll Group company.
From its foundation, KnollTextiles embraced the legacy of the great masters of modernism, with whom Florence Knoll had fruitful personal and professional relationships, over time developing collections of fabrics for covering furniture and surfaces that combine aesthetics, functionality, innovative materials and technical performance for all types of environment, from houses to hospitality, offices and hospitals.
The latest collections, which join an already rich catalog signed by a plethora of international designers and presented at BDNY in November, include the Outline Collection and Odissey Collection, curated by creative director Dorothy Cosonas, who took inspiration for the last collection from a 1913 rug hand-woven on the island of Lesbos in Greece, part of the family’s endowment.
The floral and geometric patterns were extracted and modernized using various production techniques for a family of fabrics that includes covers for upholstery, walls and curtains in a wide range of colors, textures and combinations of yarns, from cotton to nylon, from mohair to recycled polyester.
The Outline collection, which features 3 fabrics for upholstery, 2 for medical environments and 3 coverings for walls, explores the combinational relationship between design, color and geometry in high-performance products.
Such as Nature Walk, an upholstery cover created by the almost legendary modernist designer Ruth Adler Schnee with a combination based on the repetition of small triangles reproduced with digital printing on a polyurethane fabric. Or such as the Alias II & Asterisk II wall coverings, made from a washable, durable polyethylene fabric that is suitable for environments that are frequently used.