Knoll Vignelli Associates - Paperclip Round Cafe Table, Outdoor

In 1968 Vignelli was contracted by Knoll to re-envision the corporate identity and graphics program, resulting in the Knoll logo in Helvetica and the introduction of Pantone Super Warm Red as the company color. The work done for Knoll, in addition to giving us our signature graphics, launched the Vignellis to international renown as premier modern graphic designers.

In 1983 they returned to Knoll to design the Handkerchief Chair. Using compression molded plastics, they conducted a fabrication and design investigation that lasted 5 years, and ultimately captured the lightness and organic ease of a handkerchief drifting in the wind.

The firm introduced the Paperclip table in 1994 as a complement to the Handkerchief. Massimo Vignelli: “We wanted to give these chairs their own table: same lightness, same feeling, same uses.” Echoing the bent wire base of the chair, and the overall visual lightness achieved by the signature seat, the designers were able to translate the essence of what made the Handkerchief so elegant to the Paperclip Table.

Designed as a companion to the Handkerchief Chair and Bertoia Collection, the PaperClip Table by Lella and Massimo Vignelli uses the same material vocabulary to achieve a similar lightness and elegance.

MEASUREMENTS:

• Height: 71.3 cm / 28.1 inch
• Diameter Small: 91.4 cm / 36 inch
• Diameter Medium: 106.6 cm / 42 inch
• Diameter Large: 121.9 cm / 48 inch

MATERIALS:

• Table Top: Glass, and slate
• Base: Black powder coat

HELPFUL NOTES:

• Laminate top is 1" thick with molded urethane beveled edge
• Clear and white tempered glass tops are ½" thick with a polished pencil edge
• Natural cleft slate top is ¾” thick with a beveled edge
• Base is 7/16" diameter cold rolled steel rod
• Plastic glides included
• Outdoor use: With proper preventative maintenance and limited exposure to the elements, the PaperClip cafe table is appropriate for outdoor environments
• Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certified®

Lella Vignelli

Italy, 1934

Lella Vignelli is the founder of Vignelli Associates and the wife of Massimo Vignelli. She has had "a lifelong collaborative working relationship" with her husband. She is known to be the business arm of Vignelli Associates, and played a key role in the success of the design firm. She received a degree from the University of Venice's School of Architecture and a tuition fellowship as a special student at MIT's School of Architecture. In 1962, she became a registered architect in Milan.

Vignelli believes that all design should stem from a core discipline that could be translated to any project. She also believes that design should be integrated into the production process instead of added superficially at the end.

Vignelli's design is centered on communication through simplicity and careful planning. She used subtractive design, rather than additive design, to restrain her own influence and allow the essence of the design to come through. Emphasis was placed on existing and ancient motifs and elements, as well as materials' natural characteristics. She viewed words as a way to communicate actual ideas rather than serving as visual decoration, and this is evidenced by her heavy use of black text on a white background. In general, color was used for its emotional and sensual power.

Shop all designs by Lella Vignelli

Massimo Vignelli

Italy, 1931 - 2014

"I like design to be semantically correct, syntactically consistent, and pragmatically understandable. I like it to be visually powerful, intellectually elecgant, and above all, timeless." - Massimo Vignelli

Massimo Vignelli was an Italian designer who worked in a number of areas ranging from package design through houseware design and furniture design to public signage and showroom design. He was the co-founder of Vignelli Associates, with his wife, Lella Vignelli. His ethos was, "If you can design one thing, you can design everything," and this was reflected in the broad range of his work.

Vignelli worked firmly within the Modernist tradition, and focused on simplicity through the use of basic geometric forms in all his work. Vignelli worked in a wide variety of areas, including interior design, environmental design, package design, graphic design, furniture design, and product design. Hi clients at Vignelli Associates included high-profile companies such as IBM, Knoll, Bloomingdale's andAmerican Airlines. His former employee Michael Bierut wrote that "it seemed to me that the whole city of New York was a permanent Vignelli exhibition [around 1981]. To get to the office, I rode in a subway with Vignelli-designed signage, shared the sidewalk with people holding Vignelli-designed Bloomingdale’s shopping bags, walked by St. Peter’s Church with its Vignelli-designed pipe organ visible through the window. At Vignelli Associates, at 23 years old, I felt I was at the center of the universe."

Vignelli equipped his own home with tables, chairs, lamps, and other items that he designed himself.

Shop all designs by Massimo Vignelli

Shop all designs by knoll