Walter Knoll (furniture manufacturer)
Walter Knoll (born October 20, 1878 in Stuttgart ; † July 14, 1971 in Herrenberg ) was a German furniture manufacturer and founder and owner of the Walter Knoll upholstered furniture factory.
Life
Walter Knoll was born as the son of Wilhelm Knoll, a seating and upholstered furniture manufacturer. His father had only founded a leather business in Stuttgart in 1865, which he quickly expanded into a factory. The company was appointed supplier to the royal court around 1890 . After attending secondary school, Walter Knoll completed a commercial apprenticeship from 1891, including a. at Vollmoeller AG . From 1895 he worked as an officer candidate for the army. He was stationed in Alsace-Lorraine and rose to the rank of sergeant on horseback. Dismissed from his father's factory by his father, he tried his hand at becoming a self-employed businessman in Stuttgart and failed. Walter Knoll fled to the USA for the first time from his numerous creditors. In New York in 1903 he founded the "Fortuna Machine Company". When his father died, Walter Knoll returned home in 1907 and took over the father's business together with his brother Wilhelm. At that time, these included the main plant in Stuttgart, a branch in Murrtal in Stammheim and a factory in Vienna and license production in England at Parker-Knoll.
In 1909 Knoll married Karl Gustav Vollmoeller's younger sister , Maria Vollmoeller. The couple had five children, all of them sons. Robert , the first-born, took over his father's business in 1966. Hans Knoll , the second born, founded the important furniture company in the USA in 1938, which still exists today under the name Knoll International Inc. in East Greenville , Pennsylvania .
Walter Knoll moved to Vienna in 1909 and managed the factory there until the outbreak of war in 1914. After the death of his father-in-law, Robert Vollmöller , Walter Knoll was appointed to the Supervisory Board of Vollmoeller AG at the end of 1911. During the war he served first on the western front, later in the Württemberg War Ministry as a first lieutenant. In 1921 Walter Knoll tried a second time as a company founder in New York. When there were major changes in the management of Vollmoeller AG in 1925, he returned to Stuttgart and together with Paul Hahn founded "Walter Knoll & Co." in Stuttgart-Feuerbach. Through his brother-in-law Karl Gustav Vollmoeller, Knoll had contact with the Bauhaus founders such as Walter Gropius . He was the first manufacturer to specialize in the series production of Bauhaus furniture. In 1937 he moved his company from Stuttgart to Herrenberg in the former subsidiary of Vollmoeller AG. It was not until 1966, on his 90th birthday, that he finally retired from the management of his company and left the business to his eldest son Robert and his nephew Walter Combe. Walter Knoll died on July 14, 1971 in Herrenberg and was buried there. In 1982 Stefan Combe and Michael Knoll took over the management of Walter Knoll. In 1993 the Rolf Benz family took over the company with Markus Benz as managing director.
Honors
On October 20, 1956, Walter Knoll was given honorary citizenship in Herrenberg on the occasion of his 80th birthday .
literature
- Official journal of the large district town of Herrenberg, vol. 9, no.42
- Family archive Walter and Robert Knoll, Herrenberg
- Arno Votteler , Herbert Eilmann: 125 years of Knoll: four generations of seating furniture design. Krämer, 1990, ISBN 3782840062 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Knoll, Walter |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German furniture manufacturer, founder and owner of the Walter Knoll upholstered furniture factory |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 20, 1878 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Stuttgart |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 14, 1971 |
| Place of death | Herrenberg |