Parker-Knoll

Parker Knoll is a British furniture manufacturing company, originally formed by Frederick Parker, a British furniture manufacturer, and Willi Knoll, a German inventor of a new form of sprung furniture. With roots in the manufacture of high-quality furniture, the brand concentrated on mass-market products from the 1930s to the 1990s. The company was listed on the in 1950, but taken private in 2004. After financial problems, it was acquired out of administration by Sofa Brands International. In recent years, the brand has moved back to the higher-quality end of the domestic furniture market.

Frederick Parker was born in Shoreditch in 1845. He started in business as a chair maker in 1869, after an apprenticeship at his father's furniture factory. He decided to concentrate on making high quality furniture by hand. After working initially in London, Parker moved to High Wycombe - a historic centre of the furniture trade in England - in 1898. Part of the business was to make furniture for ocean liners, including the Palladian Lounge of Cunard's RMS Aquitania, and for P&O liner SS Ophir, which was commissioned as a Royal Yacht, HMS Ophir, in 1901 to carry the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York (the future King George V, and Queen Mary) to Australia. Parker also made furniture for Viceroy's House in New Delhi, and a carved throne for Emperor Haile Selassie. The business was incorporated as a limited company, Frederick Parker and Sons Ltd, in 1904. Frederick's son, Tom Parker, later took over the business.

Willi Knoll was born in Germany and served as a fighter pilot the First World War. His experience of uncomfortable seating in his fighter plane was the inspiration for his invention of a new form of sprung furniture, with a coiled steel wire string system across the seat and back, which he manufactured in Stuttgart. Knoll came to Britain in 1929 to find a manufacturer for his chairs using his patent. After Frederick Parker's son, Tom, saw a sample of Knoll's chairs at Heal & Son, the two businesses quickly formed a new company, Parker Knoll, which was launched at the British Industries Fair in February 1931.

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