MillerKnoll Announces New Head of Design for Knoll
MillerKnoll, Inc. announced Wednesday that Jonathan Olivares, has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Design, Knoll. In this role, Olivares serves as a custodian of the Knoll design legacy, overseeing the development of future Knoll designs with a community of celebrated international designers.
“Jonathan’s work is prolific and inspiring, having partnered with some of the most iconic design companies in the world,” said Alana Stevens, President of Knoll. “He knows Knoll well and has been a valued partner for more than 10 years. It is fitting that he joins at this pivotal moment in our history, and I am confident he will build upon Knoll’s storied legacy as he defines the next chapter of design.”
A graduate of Pratt Institute, Olivares has a deep appreciation for modern American design and a longstanding admiration for Knoll. One of his earliest projects after founding his design practice in 2006 was a survey of the U.S. furniture industry written for Domus. That assignment connected Olivares directly to Knoll, and soon after the company commissioned him to conduct a two-year research project on the history of the office chair. Olivares’ A Taxonomy of Office Chairs, which was published in 2011, is the culmination of that research. In 2012, Olivares again partnered with Knoll, introducing the Olivares Aluminum Chair, which received the GOOD Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum.
“I have been lucky to work with the exceptional teams at Knoll throughout my career and have always felt a strong bond to the company’s culture and point of view,” said Olivares. “Knoll literally invented the field of interior design and has always championed the relationship between furniture and the architectural environment. I look forward to working with Knoll’s team and its international community of designers, to cement Knoll’s position as a protagonist of twenty-first century design.”
Beyond his work with Knoll, Olivares’ projects include a flagship showroom for Kvadrat (New York City, 2022), a retail shop for Camper (Rockefeller Center, 2019), a collaboration with Johnston Marklee on furniture for Dropbox Headquarters (San Francisco, 2019), the installations Brujas Training Facility (Performance Space New York, 2018), and a showroom and two exhibitions designed collaboratively with Pernilla Ohrstedt for Vitra (Weil am Rhein, 2015, and Cologne 2016 and 2018). Selected Works, a monograph about Olivares’ practice, was released in 2018 by powerHouse Books. Olivares’ work has been published internationally, granted design awards – including Italy’s Compasso d’Oro – and is included in the permanent design collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Art Museum, and the Vitra Design Museum.
Since 1938, Knoll has been recognized internationally for creating workplace and residential furnishings that inspire, evolve, and endure. Knoll’s commitment to modern design, understanding of the nature of work, and dedication to sustainable design have yielded a unique portfolio of thoughtful products that respond and adapt to changing needs. Knoll is committed to delivering innovative and dynamic modern designs that solve for the changing ways in which people live and work today.