Furniture industry
Furniture designer Rolf Benz died
As the namesake of the upholstered furniture company Rolf Benz, he is considered a creator of the sofa landscape. Now the entrepreneur has died at the age of 91.
He is considered the inventor of the sofa landscape: the entrepreneur and furniture designer Rolf Benz died at the age of 91, as the Walter Knoll company announced in Herrenberg near Stuttgart. Benz is the namesake of the company of the same name, which is known for its sofas and seating groups.
The furniture designer once revolutionized the seat habits in Germany. In the 1960s, a sofa and two armchairs belonged to the classic living room furnishings. He created the sofa landscape from differently combinable elements. “Favorable use of space with more comfort and better comfort were now just as popular as new design,” he was quoted in the message with a statement from 2023.
The furniture designer was born in Nagold in 1933 and grew up in a textile retail family. After a formative upholsterer teaching, first in the upholstered furniture manufacture of his uncle. In 1959 he founded his own company.
After the sale of the company Rolf Benz, he took over the traditional furniture manufacturer Walter Knoll with the family in 1993. The eldest son Markus Benz leads the company Walter Knoll, and the granddaughter Mara Benz has been the third generation since 2023 in the management.
dpa
Source: Stern
