Platner Couchtisch gold

A new 18k gold-plated finish marks the Platner Collection's 50th anniversary

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Platner Collection, Knoll is proud to announce Platner Gold, an 18k gold-plated finish option. The finish, plated in Italy, is available for the Platner Lounge Chair, Platner Arm Chair, Platner Stool, Platner Dining Table, Platner Coffee Table and Platner Side Table. The Platner Collection was designed in 1966 by architect Warren Platner, who intended it to be gold-plated. However, the technology of the time made gold plating in large-scale production impossible, leading to the nickel-plated steel known today. The 2015 issue of Platner Gold fulfills Platner's original wish. The pieces in the Platner Collection are each made up of hundreds of individual welds, all soldered by hand, resulting in forms that recall "sheafs of wheat." Platner favored more expressive and shapely designs than those generally called for by other brands of modernism. "I, as a designer, felt there was room for the kind of decorative, gentle, graceful kind of design that appeared in a period style, like Louis XV." The Platner Arm Chair's seamless hourglass silhouette is demonstrative of this particular approach. Explaining the thought process behind the design, Platner asked, rhetorically, "Why separate support from the object? Just make it all one thing." Pardo sees the new finish as a reflection of Scandinavian design principles. “In that tradition, glossy metal tones—copper, gold, brass and bronze—are always used in connection with light and reflectivity,” Pardo explains. The application of such a material to Platner's storied designs affords them a new element of versatility. “They’re both there and not there, depending on how you look at them,” offers Pardo, “they can appear more invisible or more present, depending on the lighting and the environment.”