DOCOMOMO New York Hosts Modern Conversations in the Knoll NY Showroom

DOCOMOMO New York hosted the first installment of their 2018 Modern Conversations event in the Knoll showroom in collaboration with Fredie Floré and Cammie McAtee. The gathering celebrated Flore and McAtee’s new work regarding the influence of and relationship between modern furniture design within political arenas in the post-war era in Western nations.

Floré is an Associate Professor in the history of interior architecture at KU Leuven in Belgium, as well as an engineer-architect that focuses on the role of design in the post-war era. Based in Montreal, McAtee is an independent curator and architectural historian formerly of the Canadian Centre for Architecture. Their volume, The Politics of Furniture, Identity, Diplomacy, and Persuasion in Post-War Interiors is divided into three sections: Furniture Identity and Politics, Spaces of Persuasion, and Post-War Interiors in Transition.

Throughout their research, Floré and McAtee found that modern furniture had the power to act as a vehicle of mediation and influence in the proper architectural context. They found that modern furniture, when juxtaposed with more ornate and historic furniture pieces and architectural interiors, has the ability exert influence through the mode of material expression. The co-editors also found a recurring theme in their work: the role of Knoll designers during this period, from Eero Saarinen to Mies van der Rohe, in addition to the influence of Knoll’s successful business and distribution models.

The Modern Conversations event held a particular focus on Knoll. Floré and McAtee were granted archival access over the course of their research, and what they uncovered details on Knoll’s arrival in France and its work with both the Director of Knoll International during the period, Yves Vidal, and interior designer Charles Sevigny.