On Monday, April 19, it was announced that Herman Miller is set to acquire Knoll in a $1.8 billion cash and stock transaction, an unprecedented deal that will create the largest company in the industry. “This transaction brings together two pioneering icons of design with strong businesses, attractive portfolios, and long histories of innovation. Together, we will offer a deep portfolio of brands, technology, talent, and innovation, to create meaningful growth opportunities in all areas of the combined business,” said Andi Owen, president and chief executive officer of Herman Miller.
Following the close of the transaction, expected by the end of the third quarter of calendar year 2021, Owen will serve as president and chief executive officer of the combined company. Andrew Cogan, current Knoll chairman and chief executive officer, plans to depart the combined company after a 30-year career with Knoll.
We asked A&D leaders to share their thoughts on what the deal means for the industry, and the legacy of these two iconic brands.

Carl Gustav Magnusson, industrial designer, founder of CGM Design
In 1941 Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames, Cranbrook Academy classmates, won the MOMA Organic Design in Home Furnishings award. Eero went on to create extraordinary designs for Knoll, while Charles did the same for Herman Miller that continue today as master classics. Their cultural collaboration was prescient of the moment we are now in some eighty years later; the merger of the very companies that represent the continuation of simply the best in modernism and its global distribution to the office and home markets. The best find each other.
Ken Wilson, FAIA, FIIDA, ASID, LEED-Fellow, Design principal and co-global interior design director, Perkins + Will.
The merger of Herman Miller and Knoll came as a surprise to everyone. I think Brent Capron, our Design Director of Interiors in New York summed it up best by jokingly saying, “I’m still getting my head around it. I feel like someone just told me Ford bought Chevy.”
There is no question that Herman Miller and Knoll are two great companies with a long history of design excellence. In my own kitchen I eat at a Saarinen table while sitting on an Eames Molded Plastic Chair. In my living room there are two Eames Soft Pad Lounge Chairs and a Carrara marble Saarinen Coffee Table. The classics of both companies play very well together. We have not heard much about the plan moving forward and I don’t expect we will before the end of the summer when their deal is finalized. My sense is that most of the design community is fine with the merger but would like to see both companies maintain their identities.

Ilene Shaw, CEO, Shaw & Co. Productions
It’s worrisome when a market leader acquires another market leader—both of whom have set themselves apart from the other and the rest of the competition through inspired innovation. It makes me wonder why one company must own the majority of an industry space, and will they lose that competitive dynamic? Of course, this is likely exciting news for their investors and perhaps competitors, as consolidating an industry suggests less competition, which can elevate other furniture brands.
As the pandemic wanes and the world reopens, all workplaces will be reimagined and in need of renovation. Obviously, Herman Miller and Knoll are gearing up for this. I hope, too, that their competitors will see this consolidation as a new opportunity to innovate. Acquisitions are complicated, and this one warrants great attention to keep the iconic Knoll as the historically treasured brand it is. Yet, as years move on, it’s difficult to retain a brand, and we may see the lines dissipate. I truly hope they prove me wrong, because that would make me very happy.
Paul Makovsky, writer, editor. and brand strategist
The furniture industry can sometimes be conservative in evolving the way it does business. Andi Owen has done a good job at Herman Miller of fostering the digital transformation at the company while capitalizing on its brand legacy, using her experience from Banana Republic and The Gap. Both Herman Miller and Knoll use design as a catalyst, and as the brands evolve, I would love to see them use more female designers and more racial diversity. The challenges as both brands grow in the direct-to-consumer market, will come not so much from other contract furnishing brands, but from companies like RH, which is further expanding into retail, food and hospitality, as well as expanding internationally in England and Europe.
A fun fact: In the mid-1940s, after Herman Miller’s D.J. Dupree brought George Nelson, who was a true visionary, on as design director, Nelson suggested to Dupree that the company should carry Mies Van Der Rohe’s furniture, but Florence Knoll, who had been a student of Mies, convinced Mies that Knoll should license his furniture instead. So 75 years later, George Nelson’s wish is finally coming true.

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Tom Polucci, FIIDA, AIA, firmwide director of interiors, HOK
At HOK, we were excited to hear of the acquisition of Knoll by Herman Miller. Both are powerful and storied brands with a shared ethos that good design matters. As we begin to return to the office, we are seeing how the design of the workplace is evolving to offer more choice. The opportunity to access the combined catalog and expertise of these industry leaders in a single place will lead to streamlined solutions and a better workplace.
Robert Sonneman, founder and chief creative officer, SONNEMAN-A Way of Light
No two names were more iconic and more representative of the pathos that was mid-century modern design of the 1950s and 1960s than Knoll and Herman Miller. The Miesian mission of minimal functionalism and the structural simplicity embraced by its decibels were bound to the values of design integrity.
Knoll and Herman Miller, as pioneers in the modern frontier, championed these high ideals to bring modernism, in its essence of quality and simplicity, to a newly forming modern architectural universe. They adhered to their mission to become icons of modernism for the decades that followed.
Heather Maloney, principal, Definition Design
The acquisition of Knoll by Herman Miller and its extensive family of brands, which includes Holly Hunt and Muuto, is a study in efficiency and progressive thinking. Both icons will benefit from the other in the execution of quality and style, while efficiently combining overlapping segments of the business for the new home office trend created by the COVID pandemic. It appears to be a win-win for everyone. It’s an exciting time to witness this shift in the industry, and I foresee many more opportunities to come.

Zurich Esposito, Hon. AIA, A+D consultant, former executive vice president, AIA Chicago
The joining of these two legendary furniture giants is exciting and logical. Collaborate rather than compete. How many of us should take that advice? How this development impacts design and lines will be fun to watch. What’s not to root for, at least from the outside looking in? Maybe the view from inside is more cautiously optimistic.
James Woolum, AIA, IIDA, partner, ZGF
Like many designers, I was surprised by the news at first but it makes sense. As the world thinks about returning to the workplace, these two brands can really span the expanded spectrum of agile work between home and office, and way beyond. With the office shaping up to be more of a hybrid—part home base, part hospitality hub—we are entering new territory with enhanced expectations for flexibility and work-life balance. Between the future-forward thinking and time-proven classics in both portfolios, this new partnership has tons of potential.
Alyssa Coletti, founder and principal, Nonfiction Creative
It was a surprise to hear the news, but Herman Miller is the ideal home for Knoll’s legacy. With the commitment of both companies to great design, their combined resources and market reach creates a dream situation for product innovation—particularly for the smaller brands. Both parent brands were influential in my career path, so I wish them well and am excited to see what the future holds.
Rachel Robinson, studio design principal, Ted Moudis Associates
Bringing two iconic furniture design companies together—we are making history. I wonder what Ray Eames and Florence Knoll would say? Both well-established companies coming together, bringing iconic designs under one roof, is a bonus.
Ken Gibson, president, Gibson Interior Products
The reality of the post-COVID office furnishings space are mergers and acquisitions such as this one. We are all going to be chasing the same egg, so to speak. Ultimately, it comes down to projects and what products are best to fill them. I feel those days are numbered for those big fellas in Michigan who have started to acknowledge what I’ve known all along when it comes to office furnishings—the client has lots of options.
And companies like mine, that offer a one-stop shop for architectural and commercial furnishings products, all under our 12,000-square-foot roof in New York City, are ripe to furnish these projects as well as anybody, at 30-40 percent less. This is making design firms and facilities managers very well aware of what they can succeed with.