Earl Martin – författare

The first comprehensive study of Knoll's innovative textile designs and the company's role within the history of interior designIn 1940, Hans Knoll founded a company in New York that soon earned a reputation for its progressive line of furniture. Florence Schust joined the firm and helped establish its interior design division, the Knoll Planning Unit. In 1947, the year after their marriage, Hans and Florence Knoll added a third division, Knoll Textiles, which brought textile production in line with a modern sensibility that used color and texture as primary design elements. In the early years, the company hired leading proponents of modern design as well as young, untried designers to create textile patterns. The division thrived in the late 1940s through 1960s and, in the following decade, adopted a more international outlook as design direction shifted to Europe. In the late 1970s and 1980s, Knoll tapped fashion designers and architects to bolster its brand. The pioneering use of new materials and a commitment to innovative design have remained Knoll's hallmarks to the present day. With essays by experts, biographies of about eighty designers, and images of textiles, drawings, furniture, and ephemera, Knoll Textiles, 1945-2010 is the first comprehensive study devoted to a leading contributor to modern textile design. Highlighting the individuals and ideas that helped shape Knoll Textiles over the years, this book brings the Knoll brand and the role of textiles in the history of design to the forefront of public attention.Published for the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material CultureExhibition Schedule:The Bard Graduate Center, New York(05/18/11-07/31/11)

The first comprehensive study of the most important ceramic innovation of the 19th centuryColorful, wildly imaginative, and technically innovative, majolica was functional and aesthetic ceramic ware. Its subject matter reflects a range of 19th-century preoccupations, from botany and zoology to popular humor and the macabre. Majolica Mania examines the medium’s considerable impact, from wares used in domestic settings to monumental pieces at the World’s Fairs. Essays by international  experts address the extensive output of the originators and manufacturers in England—including Minton, Wedgwood, and George Jones—and the migration of English craftsmen to the U.S. New research including information on important American makers in New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia is also featured. Fully illustrated, the book is enlivened by new photography of pieces from major museums and private collections in the U.S. and Great Britain.Distributed for Bard Graduate CenterExhibition Schedule:Bard Graduate Center Gallery, New York(September 24, 2021–January 2, 2022)Walters Art Museum, Baltimore(February 26–July 31, 2022)Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent(October 15, 2022–February 26, 2023)