Knoll Designer Bios

Jorge Ferrari Hardoy

b. Argentina

Jorge Ferrari Hardoy designed one of the most imitated chairs in modern furniture history — the butterfly chair, or as Knoll sold it for three years, the Hardoy Chair. Hardoy received his degree in architecture from the Universidad de Buenos Aires in 1939. He had lived the previous year in Paris, where he worked with Le Corbusier on his never-realized urban plans for Buenos Aires.

In 1938, along with Antonio Bonet and Juan Kurchan, Hardoy designed a leather sling chair inspired by a wooden folding chair popular in Europe. The simple design garnered unexpected popularity and attention, and, in 1947, Hans Knoll licensed the design and introduced it to the Knoll collection. Unable to protect the license as knockoffs flooded the market, Knoll discontinued production in 1950.

Best known for his iconic chair design, Hardoy remained an active designer, architect, and city planner until his death.