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Knoll Collaborates with Visionaries at Salone del Mobile 2025

April 8, 2025  by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry   

Knoll Pavilion at Salone del Mobile 2025

The Knoll pavilion features unique and flexible new designs: Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee's Biboni Sofa; Jonathan Muecke's finely crafted all-wood dining collection; designer, creative director, and polymath Willo Perron's Bun Lounge Chair and Ottoman, an immersive design; noted interior designer Joseph D'Urso's Occasional Tables, now back in production; and for the first time, the Barcelona Collection available in a curated selection of textiles.

This year's pavilion is designed by architecture practice OFFICE, founded by Belgian architect duo Kersten Geers and David Van Severen, for a third consecutive year. Bringing a sustainability mindset, the pavilion is made from repurposed and recycled materials (also recyclable) that have been reimagined each year of the partnership to complement the products.

New at Salone 2025
Biboni Sofa, Muecke Wood Collection, Perron Bun Lounge Chair and Ottoman, D'Urso Occasional Tables, and Barcelona Collection in New Fabrics and Finishes

Biboni Sofa
Knoll builds on its practice of partnering with prominent architects with the introduction of the Biboni Sofa by Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee of Johnston Marklee.

The sculptural form of Biboni echoes the firm's distinct approach to architecture, shaping space into volumes, voids, and curves. Plush scallops and soft folds are shaped into an anthropomorphic form that envelops and embraces the human body. The experience of Biboni strikes a balance between formal and informal, offering a unique combination of softness and support, allowing the sitter to feel both relaxed yet engaged at once.

Designed with an architectural mindset, every detail of Biboni has been carefully crafted to enhance its relationship to a surrounding space. It truly stands out when it appears in the round—floating away from the perimeter, as part of a constellation of elements composing a total interior.

"It wants to be a good friend," says Johnston. "We like that it can be giving in that way."

Muecke Wood Collection
Knoll announces its collaboration with architect and sculptor Jonathan Muecke. Muecke Wood Collection is an all-wood collection of dining chairs and tables that are familiar and uniquely crafted. This simple collection exemplifies Muecke's artistic approach, centered around the belief that material is elemental, repetition is clarity, and logic is freedom.

Unlike traditional wooden furniture, which typically hides the end grain in mortise joints, Muecke's collection showcases it boldly. By utilizing a single round wooden profile, and stacking members following structural principles, Muecke's chair eschews the formal decisions typically associated with design. This approach places focus on materiality and proportions and the way the chair occupies space.

In creating this collection, Muecke's training as an architect came into play, with a focus on spatial relationships. "I don't think about chairs and tables as objects," he says. "I think about a chair in terms of material—as a marker of human scale, a physical record in relational space."

"Muecke's sculpture plays a prominent role in Knoll showrooms, charging the interiors with spatial sensitivity and composition. His first furniture collection produced at scale allows Knoll to bring these qualities to its clients' homes and projects," commented Knoll SVP of Design Jonathan Olivares. 

Perron Bun Lounge Chair and Ottoman
Building on last year's collaboration with designer and creative director Willo Perron, Knoll unveils the Perron Bun Lounge Chair and Ottoman, which blurs the lines between lounge chair, sofa, and bed. The ultra-relaxed chair is like a plush cloud floating above a transparent sculptural base. Bun Lounge Chair delivers a sense of comfort and is ideal for a time when we are looking to bring a relaxed aesthetic to more spaces.

"I come from pop culture and music, and my work is always a little bit performative," says Perron.

With a thick cushion supported by a slim frame, the Perron Bun Lounge Chair plays with the juxtaposition of heavy and light. Like an inviting nest, the pleasing roundness of the mattress-like cushion is visually and physically comfortable. The curves of the sling base hold the sitter in a comfortable, reclined position, while the discreet stilt legs virtually disappear to make the cloud-like seat appear to float in space. It is available with or without an ottoman.

D'Urso Occasional Tables 
Celebrated minimalist and internationally renowned interior designer Joseph D'Urso first translated his signature aesthetic to furniture for Knoll in 1980. Among those pieces was the D'Urso Occasional Table, now available in three sizes. Durably constructed of welded steel with polished and glossy painted finishes, the reissue reflects its surroundings, seamlessly becoming part of the environment. Its functional design, industrial materials, and concealed casters align with the high-tech design movement of the 1970s and reflect D'Urso's preference for objects that feel more engineered than styled.

The open lower shelf of the table acts as a second tabletop, offering space to store and display books and objects while keeping the top surface clear and uncluttered. Because the items below are still visible, they're celebrated but not obtrusive. From its two-level structure to its caster wheels, every aspect of this table is thoughtfully designed for both form and function. It's a small piece of architecture within a living space.

Barcelona Collection in New Fabrics and Finishes
The Barcelona Collection, first introduced in 1929, exudes a simple elegance that represents Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's most famous maxim: "Less is more." After consulting with scholars, Knoll learned that while the collection has always been available in leather, Mies van der Rohe had no objection to other fabrics being used on the designs. Knoll enlivens this collection with the option of fabric upholstery and a new ultra matte-black frame, available for the Barcelona Chair, Stool, and Couch.

To learn more about all new products, visit the Knoll website.

Photo: Biboni Sofa by Johnston Marklee for Knoll