Topiary® Dining Chair

Richard Schultz designed the Topiary collection to look like shrubs pruned to look like furniture. The whimsical pieces act as light filters, disappearing into nature and creating patterns of dappled light on the ground below.

Topiary is the only 100% sheet metal seating collection on the market, using a technique that involves bending, stamping and folding sheets of aluminum. The powder coated components make the chair resilient enough to stay outdoors all year round.

Richard Schultz

Richard Schultz's first assignment at Knoll was to assist in the development and production of the Bertoia Wire Collection. After working on this project for 18 months in Europe, he returned to the U.S. and joined the Design Development Group at the Knoll factory in East Greenville, PA.

Schultz is best known for his outdoor furniture designs. His graceful Petal Table, introduced in 1960, received the design award from Industrial Design magazine. The steel wire-formed 715 Chaise Lounge, which was introduced the following year to complement the Bertoia collection, was selected in 1963 by the Museum of Modern Art for its permanent collection of contemporary furniture. After Florence Knoll moved to a seaside home in Florida, she started sending the design team rusty pieces of furniture, asking them to develop something that could perform in the salty climate. Schultz responded with the aluminum Leisure Collection in 1966.

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