Florence Knoll a Michigan born architect trained at Cranbroook Academy of Art, the Architectural Association in London and at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where she was a student of
Mies van der Rohe. In 1946 she married Hans Knoll and worked along side him in his business as a space planner and designer.

It was understood that Knoll Associates business would focus specifically on modern design, but they added to this the Bauhaus philosophy that they would exclusively make products that represented design excellence, technological innovation and mass production.

Architect and designer Florence Knoll has had a profound influence on more than 50 years of buildings’ interiors.

She is famous for her philosophy of total design, and as the director of the Knoll Planning Unit she revolutionized interior space planning. Her approach of embracing everything about a space – architecture, interior design, graphics, textiles and manufacturing – was not the standard mid-century practice in space planning, but it caught on and continues to be the standard today. Florence Knoll was very talented furniture designer, as well as a great eye for talent. It was under her leadership that many of the modern masters created collections for Knoll. These legacies include Eero Saarinen’s Tulip chairs and pedestal tables, Isamu Noguchi’s coffee table and Harry Bertoia’s wire furniture.

Her American interpretation of minimalist, rationalist design theories is clearly evident in Knoll's storage pieces. She mixed woods and metals to great effect and added laminates as they became popular. Dressers and desks are all square in design but never lack for quality. Hanging cabinets have glass shelves, sliding doors and drop down fronts that can be used as bars.

Knoll's vision for the new office was clean and uncluttered, and the corporate boom of the 1960's provided the perfect opportunity for her to change the way people looked at work in their offices. Her open plan layouts created clean, uncluttered spaces a perfect venue for her furniture. Companies like H. J. Heinz, CBS, and Connecticut General Life Insurance all embraced this new way of organizing business space.