The History >
With modernism becoming more expressive during the 1960's, Warren Platner became, after his time as a protégé with Eero Saarinen & Associates, one of the front figures for pedistal furniture. Platner started to experiment with the idea of what a chair could be.
He wanted there to be room for a more decorative and gentle furniture design that would start at the floor, then come up and embrace him. The chair should compliment the person sitting in it, and the surrounding environment.
By using steell rods, the Platner collection makes a decorative and structural statement as a 1960's masterpiece.
“A classic is something you look at often and always accept as it is, because you can see no way of improving it.”
The American architect and designer Warren Platner, author of this famous definition, had clear ideas about style. In 1965 he opened his own New Haven office, soon to become an important design studio for furniture and lighting and a reference point for the design of private and contract interiors. Ten years later, he collaborated with Knoll International to develop a collection of chairs and tables which became an icon of Modernism.
During his long career he often worked with brass and mirrored surfaces. A typical example of this style is Windows on the World Restaurant in the World Trade Center, which opened in 1976. With its opulent style, pastel colors, wood paneling and panoramic windows, it could come out of an ocean liner. Paul Goldberger of The New York Times spoke of "sensual modernism", while some other architectural critics spoke of “modernist Versailles”.
Hundreds of individual metal rods, all soldered by hand, result in a complex design inspired by "sheafs of wheat". In the designer's own words > “I felt there was room for the kind of decorative, gentle, graceful kind of design that appeared in period style like Louis XV "
WARREN PLATNER >
Warren Platner studied at Cornell University, graduating in 1941 with a degree in architecture. He went on to work with legendary architects Raymond Loewy, Eero Saarinen, and I. M. Pei before opening his own architecture practice. Platner made notable architectural contributions throughout his career, including the Georg Jensen Design Center and the Windows on the World restaurant in the World Trade Center, both in New York City.
It was his furniture collection for Knoll, however, that earned Platner worldwide renown.
Originally introduced by Knoll in 1966, the Platner Collection is an icon of modern furniture. Platner personally formulated the production techniques for the complicated designs with each chair requiring over a thousand welds and more than one hundred cylindrical steel rods. Knoll also introduced an executive private office collection designed by Platner.
