Bertoia Bench - Knoll

We present the Bertoia bench in Knoll, designed by Harry Bertoia in 1952.

Product Story:

Hans and Florence, characteristic of the early environment in Knoll, never demanded that Bertoia design furniture, but instead encouraged him to explore whatever he wanted. They simply asked him to show them if he came up with something interesting. Bertoia then explained the process:

"I went around and discovered, very soon, that I was not the man to investigate. My feeling was that it had to come from an internal direction. I began to trust my own body once again. I started thinking in terms of what I would like as a chair. It started very slowly... I got to the rod or wire, either bent or straight. I seemed to be at home. It was logical to try using the cable.

"Again, I went through the positioning procedure, considering the possibility of shapes, then relating, of course, what the wire itself might be, what forms it might take, whether there were tools to do so. Hay many aspects of the same things that come to mind, but the first was whether a form would emerge that would begin to serve as a chair, sit in it, etc. to extend to head care. This developed to the point where you could hold something... You know, when you have something in front of you that can really be physically held, it becomes easier to make changes."

* If you are interested in adding seat cushions or other versions of this product, please contact us.