Warren Platner
Warren Platner studied architecture at Cornell University, graduating in 1941. Afterward, he worked with renowned architects such as Raymond Loewy, Eero Saarinen, and I. M. Pei before establishing his own practice. Throughout his career, Platner made significant architectural contributions, including the Georg Jensen Design Center and the Windows on the World restaurant in New York City’s World Trade Center.
However, it was Platner’s furniture collection for Knoll that brought him global recognition. Introduced in 1966, the Platner Collection became a hallmark of modern design. Platner personally developed the intricate production techniques, with each chair requiring over a thousand welds and more than one hundred steel rods. Knoll also launched an executive office collection designed by him.
Given his experience at Eero Saarinen and Associates, it’s no surprise that Platner became a key figure in the next generation of pedestal and wire furniture. In the 1960s, as modernism grew more expressive, Platner saw an opportunity to bridge different design aesthetics.
He reflected on this, stating: „I began thinking about what furniture, particularly a chair, could truly be, focusing on the idea that it wouldn’t be overly technological or too handcrafted... As a designer, I saw space for a decorative, gentle, graceful style, akin to something like Louis XV, but with a more rational foundation, not just decoration... I thought, why separate the support from the object? Why not make it all one?
From the floor up, it should envelop and support me... My goal was to create a chair that complemented the person sitting in it, or the space between the chair and the wall — how the chair relates to the person in terms of scale and space.“
Source: knoll-int.com
Warren Platner studied architecture at Cornell University, graduating in 1941. Afterward, he worked with renowned architects such as Raymond Loewy, Eero Saarinen, and I. M. Pei before establishing his own practice. Throughout his career, Platner made significant architectural contributions, including the Georg Jensen Design Center and the Windows on the World restaurant in New York City’s World Trade Center.
However, it was Platner’s furniture collection for Knoll that brought him global recognition. Introduced in 1966, the Platner Collection became a hallmark of modern design. Platner personally developed the intricate production techniques, with each chair requiring over a thousand welds and more than one hundred steel rods. Knoll also launched an executive office collection designed by him.
Given his experience at Eero Saarinen and Associates, it’s no surprise that Platner became a key figure in the next generation of pedestal and wire furniture. In the 1960s, as modernism grew more expressive, Platner saw an opportunity to bridge different design aesthetics.
He reflected on this, stating: „I began thinking about what furniture, particularly a chair, could truly be, focusing on the idea that it wouldn’t be overly technological or too handcrafted... As a designer, I saw space for a decorative, gentle, graceful style, akin to something like Louis XV, but with a more rational foundation, not just decoration... I thought, why separate the support from the object? Why not make it all one?
From the floor up, it should envelop and support me... My goal was to create a chair that complemented the person sitting in it, or the space between the chair and the wall — how the chair relates to the person in terms of scale and space.“
Source: knoll-int.com
