Pollock Arm Chair

The Pollock Arm Chair, originally produced in 1964-1979, was reissued in 2014 by Knoll Inc., and is now being presented to the European public. In keeping with its mission of guaranteeing quality and innovation, Knoll continues the program that began a few years ago of renewal of historic icons, presenting a selection of legendary classics such as those designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Florence Knoll, Eero Saarinen, Tobia Scarpa and Marcel Breuer. Knoll’s design classics have always been a pivotal part of the brand’s success. And since the company remains committed to high quality and timeless, yet innovative design it makes sense to put a fresh spin on some of Knoll’s most revered pieces.

It has been more than half a century since the late Charles Pollock designed what was then called the Model 657, a minimal chair of polished chrome steel tubing and natural cowhide. The 657 blended comfort, functionality and, of course, style; Florence Knoll, seeing the design for the first time, declared it “gold.” Known today simply as the Pollock Arm Chair, it initiated Pollock’s design relationship with Knoll; the designer went on to create the best-selling Pollock Executive Chair, which has remained in production since 1965. In fact, the Executive Chair has been so popular that it has in many ways overshadowed Pollock's first Knoll chair, in spite of the latter’s beautiful lines and simple way of responding to the user’s position. Today, Knoll is pleased to reintroduce the Pollock Arm Chair, a modern classic for the home.

Pollock describes the chair’s inception:
“I was penniless, didn’t have a car, and was making my prototypes out of plumbing that I pulled out of an old, abandoned basement. I brought all these prototypes in [to Knoll] without an appointment and pushed them off the elevator and said, ‘I want to see Florence Knoll.’ Fortunately for me, [Senior Designer] Vincent Cafiero came out just by accident, and he said, ‘Who are you?’ I said, ‘I’m Charles Pollock.’ I had had a major article in Interiors, in a series of articles about Saarinen, Eames, and myself about three or four months before, and he had read that… So Cafiero said, ‘Look, this stuff is interesting. Why don’t you take this idea and throw this other idea into it?’ Eventually, between Vincent Cafiero and myself, I developed a quarter-inch scale model of a chair that was very, very similar to the 657 chair. That was the beginning… and the rest is history.”