Revitalising European Modernism through Space and Time: Knoll and Wohnbedarf 1947–1976

Wohnbedarf, the Swiss furnishing company founded in Zurich in 1931 by Sigfried Giedion, Rudolf Graber, and Werner Moser with the aim of selling home furniture, textiles, and lighting fixtures, promoted the work of local designers and producers while also cooperating with international modernist architects and artists until the late 1930s. After 1945, Graber restarted Wohnbedarf’s policy of promoting modernism through importation signing a license agreement in 1947 with the US-based entrepreneur Hans G. Knoll. A unique collaboration between two giants of modern design, the transnational deal lasted until 1976. It re-shaped Wohnbedarf’s program and led to a boom around 1970 that has never been repeated. Focusing on the little-researched role of licensing in the post-war history of Wohnbedarf, this article examines a case study of transnational collaboration and shows what design historians can learn from it: national design histories become less relevant when transnational license partners already have an international focus in their product range. In this particular case, both focused on the re-birth of European modernism as a sales strategy and were perfect matches for each other: Wohnbedarf shaped European modernism in the early 1930s but had fallen on hard times. Knoll re-invented post-war modern furniture, “bringing back” to Europe designers with European roots through the Wohnbedarf channel, establishing a so-called “Knoll modernism.” While this study does fill a gap by showing how the Knoll–Wohnbedarf partnership served as a bridge for the return of European modernism in exile back to Europe, it could not be considered paradigmatic: it is barely replicable.