No Compromise: The Work of Florence Knoll

I am about halfway through this book, and I am really enjoying learning more about Florence Knoll and the design world from that time period. I love MCM. This book arrived quickly, and it was in perfect condition. I am very pleased with this purchase and with the seller. Thank you very much!

I have always admired her work and worked for Connecticut General in the 1960's and experienced the new office. The author seemed critical that she wasn't "woke"------this was the period of the IBM Sel-electric typewriter, privacy shields on desks. My one regret, I never met her in person.

Prefect

As a lover of all things Knoll I was extremely excited to buy this book and read all about a hero considered by many. What I didn’t know until after I read it that the title No Compromise was sarcastic because it wasn’t until the end that she ( the author) said that Florence Knoll made plenty of compromises. It’s a feminist author trying to take down a powerful woman who she portrayed as an ambitious woman compromising herself up the ladder of success in a world run by men. It made me sad. Everyone makes compromises but the Knoll brand still had a steadfast integrity for a long time. So the characters including Florence Knoll are not as perfect as the image. So what. I expected to see images of perfection, of which there were hardly any, along with a general narrative. A puff piece if you will. This is the opposite. Even having read this I still think she was a strong woman with a vision. Read this only if you want to have the Knoll spell on you broken. That wasn’t my intention but it didn’t affect me because it was more about the author than Florence Knoll.

"Cellist" said it best in their review. Araujo succumbs to the tropes of judging the past based on the values of today. Instead of celebrating the monumental achievements of Knoll, Araujo passive-aggressively digs at her subject by complaining that the Mad Men set is dressed using the design vocabulary of Knoll Assoc. Somehow that translates into Knoll being responsible for the patriarchal hierarchy? The biography is superficial, we hardly learn anything about Knoll's inner thoughts or struggles. We get a lot of lazy scholarship and speculation, padded with a lot of judgmental nonsense. Knoll deserves a better biography.

I’m not sure why I’m supposed to be interested in the fact that because Knoll designed an office to suit her husband’s looks, our way-too-sensitive author feels this was racist and sexist. If one sentence says Knoll designed each office to reflect its occupant and the author then gives an example of when Knoll designed an office to suit her husband, the final sentence of the paragraph should probably not be “Would a person of a different race or gender look as photogenic against a Knoll background?” According to the Florence Knoll we have just been introduced to, no; each office should be designed around the occupant. Did the author not read her own first sentence?Why are we subject to these slyly condescending questions at the end of informative paragraphs? Here’s another one: “The world the series portrays was one that, to use a quote from one of the Mad Men characters, gave to white men ‘everything and so much of it,’ and clearly disfavored others. Was the Knoll look discriminatory?”Hmm. Well, not as discriminatory as that question! Speaking as a woman myself, with friends like these, no one needs enemies.Also, are we actually quoting a fictional character on a modern TV show as if they were real before implying actual discrimination in non-fictional, 100% real designs that were referenced decades later in the (fictional) TV show? Apparently, the author is positing that because Knoll’s “sleek-but-soft ambiance” provided a backdrop to unfair and discriminatory work practices in the TV show, it contributed - many years in advance - to the (fictional) portrayal of unfairness.It boggles the mind that this could come from any place of logic or have passed through the hands of an editor.I’ve just started learning about Florence Knoll and already I find her life and work intriguing! What a disservice this author does by making me wade through so many catty questions and judgmental pronouncements on the way to learning about Knoll’s remarkable achievements.Here’s a thought: Despite living in what we are told was unequivocally a “white man’s world,” Florence Knoll throve. She made more of an impact on the world than the author (living in such a welcoming time that she was able to get this book published!) will likely ever make. In other words, maybe having to try a little harder, dig deeper, or (horror!) live in such an awful, misogynistic time and place as Knoll did would have pushed this author past simplistic regurgitation of what anyone learns in freshman college courses and towards a more complex view of a fabulously interesting woman!

My Daughter in law purchased 2 chairs and a sofa off of CL for $200.00She recently took the set to have it reupholstered and the walnut wood refinished. Sure, Mid-Century looking set that seemed worthy of the cost. When the seats were removed to begin the process..the original tags read "Knoll-Bassett."Yowza! Got her this book regarding the history of her lovely set. BTW..the upholsterer did an amazing job, copying the basketweave original style....Lucky Girl, I'd say.

Excellent publication, well-written and full of information clearly the result of excellent scholarship. Includes many unexpected photographs. Good survey of period design history, not just the work of one person.