Jonathan Olivares Aluminum Outdoor Chair

Founded in 1938, Knoll uses modern design to connect people to their work, their lives, their world. Throughout its history, by embracing the creative genius at the Bauhaus School and the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Knoll has been recognized for creating residential and workplace furnishings that inspire, evolve, and endure. Today, Knoll’s commitment to modern design and dedication to sustainability have yielded a unique portfolio of products that continue to respond and adapt to changing needs.

Knoll has always remained true to the Bauhaus design philosophy that modern furniture should complement architectural space, not compete with it. At Knoll, modern design has been the guiding principle, and a passion shared by customers and design professionals worldwide. 

Jonathan Olivares was born in Boston in 1981 and graduated from Pratt Institute. In 2006 he established Jonathan Olivares Design Research, an office based in Los Angeles that works in the fields of industrial, spatial and communication design.

His designs engage a legacy of form and technology, and ask to be used rather than observed. Recent projects include the exhibition Source Material, curated with Jasper Morrison and Marco Velardi (2014); the website A View on Natural Motion, for Nike (2014); the Olivares Aluminum Chair, for Knoll (2012); and the book A Taxonomy of Office Chairs, published by Phaidon Press (2011). Olivares’ work has been published internationally, granted several design awards—including Italy’s Compasso d'Oro—and supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts through two grants.