Richard Schultz Collection Brochure (50.84 MB) - Knoll

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Pavilion ®
Richard with Pavilion
2002 Collection
Is it possible to design an interesting original chair out of tubing?
If you look back and think in terms of inheriting the tradition of Mies van der Rohe and Gropius and Breuer – who
all designed iconic tubular chairs – you can't make a chair that's more minimal than that in terms of exploiting those
materials. I suppose it is how painters felt about Picasso who did everything – what was left for them to do?
One of the ways of using those materials and achieving something interesting without repeating is to use different
thicknesses. Use of heavy members and thin members is a device that allows you to produce a sculptural effect
that is like a drawing that has thick and thin lines. It is a way of adding interest to the design. The arm is thicker
because it is more comfortable for your arm, and then the weight is supported by a thin piece of material that is
only minimally needed for the support of the seating surface and the arms. On a couple of different levels it works.
One is that it makes it a more interesting sculpture by using different thicknesses. It also allows you to put the
furniture together avoiding exposed welded joints.
In many ways “form follows technique” is a more of a governing idea than “form follows function.”
If comfort is a given then what controls form is the choice of material and technique.
I think that is well illustrated in the 2002 Collection.
Pavilion 2003
I first developed the Pavilion while working for Knoll in 1976 as an alternate to an umbrella. The legs were made
of plastic sewer pipes and we tested it against high winds by setting it up in front of an airplane at a local airport.
It was never put into production.
We now refined the design to create a stainless steel modular structure that defines space and creates shade.
The pleated curtains look delicate and are slightly transparent. In the garden it is sculpture.
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