Handkerchief Chair

In 1968 Vignelli was contracted by Knoll to re-envision the corporate identity and graphics program, resulting in the Knoll logo in Helvetica and the introduction of Pantone Super Warm Red as the company color. The work done for Knoll, in addition to giving us our signature graphics, launched the Vignellis to international renown as premier modern graphic designers.

In 1983 they returned to Knoll to design the Handkerchief Chair. Using compression molded plastics, they conducted a fabrication and design investigation that lasted 5 years, and ultimately captured the lightness and organic ease of a handkerchief drifting in the wind.

The firm introduced the Paperclip table in 1994 as a complement to the Handkerchief. Massimo Vignelli: “We wanted to give these chairs their own table: same lightness, same feeling, same uses.” Echoing the bent wire base of the chair, and the overall visual lightness achieved by the signature seat, the designers were able to translate the essence of what made the Handkerchief so elegant to the Paperclip Table.

Massimo and Lella Vignelli both studied architecture before founding the Vignelli Office of Design and Architecture in 1960. In 1971 they established Vignelli Associates, a vehicle for focusing on projects that incorporated their industrial, furniture and graphic design talents. Their diverse portfolio includes work for IBM, American Airlines, and Bloomingdales, the New York Subway system, and Washington, D.C.

In 1967, Bobby Cadwallader retained Massimo Vignelli to create a new graphics program for Knoll. The resulting designs, based largely on a grid, provided the foundation for all basic communication needs, including stationery, business cards, stickers, tags, boxes, brochures and four-color ads for trade magazines and publications like The New Yorker, Vogue and Fortune.

As recognizable and successful as the work of his predecessor Herbert Matter, Vignelli’s Knoll advertisements, pricelists and branding efforts gave Knoll an international graphic identity that became the industry standard.

Massimo Vignelli once described the Knoll assignment as "the most exciting, rewarding" of his professional career. Perhaps the greatest measure of the program’s success is the extent to which it continues to inform the company's public identity to this day.