(from the Richard Schultz email sent to me today):
To all members of the Richard Schultz family,
Today I am proud to announce that Knoll has agreed to acquire Richard Schultz Design. My parents and I see this as a fitting and natural step in the growth and evolution of our company, first from a small startup in the bedroom of my childhood home in Pennsylvania, then to an independent vibrant brand, and now to an integrated brand with Knoll, where it all began.
My mother was hired by Florence (Shu) Knoll in 1950 to work with her on interior design projects. My father was hired by Hans and Shu in 1951 after he graduated from design school. Their leadership and vision offered a rich creative environment that uniquely fostered innovative product development, and marked my parents for life. It was during this period that my father designed the iconic 1966 Collection and Petal Table Collections, among others.
In 1992 my father and I began Richard Schultz Design, with the goal of continuing to explore new product ideas specific to outdoor furniture. With Knoll?s generous permission and assistance we were also able to re-introduce the 1966 Collection and Petal tables. Over the last twenty years our customer?s awareness of the importance and joy of outdoor living grew, and we developed numerous new product offerings within these classic collections.
Today we complete the circle, and nothing makes my father and me prouder than to be able to bring our entire product range back home to Knoll. Now our Petal Tables will be reunited with the Bertoia chairs, our 1966 Collection will be shown alongside the Saarinen Tables, and all our innovative newer products will be shown in the stunning environments that the Knoll showrooms and dealers so carefully curate worldwide.
I will remain as a consultant to Knoll, most of our current staff will remain in place, and we will continue to maintain our Palm manufacturing facility located about a mile from the Knoll factory. In growing the business I have enjoyed working closely with all of our dealers, customers, and suppliers. I am thankful to you for your past support and look forward to working with Knoll and you to continue and strengthen our relations.
With excitement and enthusiasm for future possibilities,
Peter
Peter Schultz
President
Richard Schultz Design, Inc.
peter@richardschultz.com
©2012 Richard Schultz Design | 806 Gravel Pike | Palm, PA 18070 | Tel: 215 679-2222
I expect the quality
will remain exactly the same. But, Richard Schultz has quite a number of lines and I can guarantee you that Knoll will trim down the amount of lines.
I'm certain they will not touch the 1966 collection, since it was in production when Knoll originally produced it (when it was called "Leisure").
I love the Topiary collection too.
I'm fairly sure that Knoll will keep the Schultz original factory.
Do any of you
own Richard Schultz outdoor furniture?
I own two black Topiary dining chairs, two all black 1966/Leisure dining chairs with arms, an all white 1966/Leisure dining table, a white with brown top 1966/Leisure coffee table, and two white 1966/Leisure dining chairs with arm (but I need to replace the slings).
O and I also have
a Petal side table in Mahogany! It's no more than 4 years old; they had to stop using Redwood and this was one of the woods they were testing. I don't think it was in production in Mahogany for more than 1 year (I got it on clearance during one of their warehouse sales!)
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