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Knoll Designer Bios

Dale Fahnstrom

b. USA, 1940

Multi-talented designer Dale Fahnstrom received a B.A. and M.F.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Over his long and diverse career he has designed products and packages for brands such as Unimark, Phillips, Steelcase and NEC. Committed to responsible design and stewardship, Fahnstrom has a special interest in sustainability.

He and his long-time collaborator Michael McCoy designed the exceptionally successful Bulldog chair for Knoll in 1990. Succeeding the Diffrient Chairs, the Bulldog family was conceived as the next generation of Knoll office seating to be informed by extensive ergonomic and market research. The Bulldog was a top selling product for nearly two decades, selling over one million units.
Fahnstrom is currently on the faculty of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design, of which he was the long-time director.