A Sofa In Name, But An Evolution For A Design House: Knoll X Willo Perron

A soft, sprawling sectional has taken up residence in the front window of the Knoll store on Boulevard Saint Germain in Paris. Bold, sans serif type is stenciled onto the glass next to the store’s door, reading: Willo Perron Perron Pillo Sofa.

While the scene seems typical–a sofa in the window of a furniture store–for design enthusiasts and interior junkies, these few words are enough to ignite excitement.

First, Knoll, the heritage design house that has created some of the most iconic furniture pieces in history is not known for creating anything pillow-like, as the sofa’s name would imply.

On the contrary, Knoll has a clear point of view, and that point of view is design that communicates architecture and structure. Think: the angular metal frames of the Cesca and Wassily chairs, both part of the house’s portfolio. Another key piece of the house, the Saarinen Dining Table, is a testament to the enduring posterity of marble and represents the material’s stability and structure.

Second, consider Perron himself. The slightly enigmatic, behind-the-scenes Artistic Director who has masterminded indelible moments of pop culture that belies his out-of-the-spotlight persona.

From the fingerprint he created for American Apparel which dominated the clothing vernacular of the aughts, to the floating Super Bowl Halftime show he devised for Rihanna (fact: it was the most watched Halftime show in history), to the Grammy he won in recognition of his artistic direction in music, one easily understands Knoll’s attraction to Perron.

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Although the collaboration is more than a mutual admiration society. It’s an evident move to expand Knoll’s vocabulary as a design house, and it’s Perron who’s been entrusted to help take the conversation forward.

“It’s difficult to say how I will contribute to this great legacy, how my work will be received, or how I will fit into the fabric of Knoll’s history, but hopefully I can bring some levity and serenity,” says Perron in an interview.

Levity and serenity are codes that already exist in many of Perron’s furniture pieces. While this is his first collaboration with Knoll, he has created beds and sofas under his name which embody the the Pillo sofa’s docile energy of…smoosh. His Sausage Sofa, an amorphous, structureless piece to be manipulated into any desired form is a perfect example of this. As is his FKA bed, whose mattress is engulfed by a soft, fabric frame and headboard making the entire bed an extension of the mattress.

There is also the metaphorical significance of his furniture design as an expression of the vastness of his vocabulary as a designer. His pieces tend to be gentle and inviting, even the ones made of glass or stone have a quality of softness. These works live at the other end of the spectrum to the type of work he has created for the likes of Rihanna, which can accurately be described as explosive.

The Original Design Polymath

From retail to exhibitions, from furniture to concerts, one wonders how Perron effortlessly traverses disparate genres to the degree of success that he does. After all, convincing people you can “do it all” in a world where specialization is king is an accomplishment saved for the rare.

“For starters, I don’t have a formal education, so I never had to silo myself into a specific medium,” Perron responds when asked the secret to his polymathy. “Early on, when people weren’t familiar with my work, I had the freedom to move across various disciplines and industries.”

As well, he says his natural commitment to discretion has played a role, “I was never very public about my work, so I was able to avoid being pigeonholed or typecast into any one field.”

However, Perron believes his ability to navigate between genres is not an anomaly for creatives, but it’s the analog nature of the past that made it more difficult for an artist of his generation to express varying creative talents as compared to those working in current times.

“Designers and artists have always been polymaths, it’s just now getting easier to achieve. We had to invest in equipment, develop film, scan it—all of which required know-how and a financial commitment,” he says. “With today’s generation and their easy access to hardware and software, it allows them to move freely between mediums. They can capture photos and create films directly on their phones, whereas, before there were greater hurdles.”

A Blueprint for Knoll’s Evolution

Which brings us to the Pillo sofa. Its modular design is a “choose your own adventure experience,” according to Perron, designed to be adapted and reconfigured easily based on locations and need.

“It’s such an honor to be amongst design giants,” Perron says of his place with Knoll legends such as Frank Gehry, Marcel Breur, Florence Knoll, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, all of whom have designed for the house. “I like being the contrast to the more formal pieces. At this past Salone, the Pillo was displayed with a marble Florence Knoll coffee table. It felt like they were always meant to be next to each other.”

But as with all of his work, “Each project comes with its own set of considerations,” he says.

American Apparel was about capturing the brand’s core values and irreverent spirit, “Through simple store fixtures, lighting, and graphic elements,” he explains and further elaborates how an Italian design book on the High-Tech movement celebrating the use of accessible industrial material drove that vision.

“This approach inspired us to elevate default, inexpensive retail systems in a way that looked cool and intentional. Whereas for the Pillo Sofa, it was a deeply personal, tactile experience centered around serenity, elegance, and comfort. The challenge was to hybrid these qualities into a simple, refined gesture seamlessly.”

This ability to seamlessly integrate qualities is a skill that Perron has cultivated, in part, from his surroundings. He is a product of French Canada, where he was raised, and is now an Angeleno. He attributes the melding of the hands-on culture of the former with Los Angeles’s fantastical nature as the combination of mentalities that drive his methods.

“There’s a strong sense of pragmatism in how French Canadians approach problems and build, we are rooted in a hard working blue collar ethic.” Perron says. “What struck me most when I arrived in LA was the encouragement to dream bigger and push creative boundaries. LA offers this limitless sense of possibility, inviting you to expand without self editing.”

He adds, “There’s a lot of internal mediation to let both voices be heard and the combination of both influences is beautiful—feet firmly on the ground with a head high in the clouds.” Or perhaps this time, it’s a head lost in a Pillo.