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Palisades Interstate Park Commission receives 2005 Russel Wright Award for Environmentalism - 2 October, 2005
MANITOGA/THE RUSSEL WRIGHT DESIGN CENTER ANNOUNCES RUSSEL WRIGHT AWARD WINNERS FOR 2005
Palisades Interstate Park Commission receives 2005 Russel Wright Award for Environmentalism and Knoll, Inc. is 2005 winner of the Russel Wright Award for the Marketing of Modernism
Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center, the non-profit organization, which owns and operates acclaimed 20th century industrial designer Russel Wright's home, studio and 75 acre woodland gardens, is pleased to announce its selection of recipients of the 2005 Russel Wright Awards. Award presentation will be at the organization's 2005 Russel Wright Awards and Benefit Auction Luncheon at, Garrison, New York on Sunday, October 2, 2005.
Marketing of Modernism Award to Knoll, Inc.
Leading American furniture manufacturer Knoll, Inc. has been selected to receive the 2005 Russel Wright Marketing of Modernism Award. Founded in 1938 by Hans Knoll, who died in 1955 and drawing leadership and design direction from his wife, Florence Knoll until 1965, this company introduced and successfully promoted many of the iconic industrial designers of the Bauhaus International Style and mid-century Modern period. Knoll designs included works by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi. Throughout its history, Knoll has continuously brought the best of textiles, furniture and lighting in the modern tradition to market through its introductions and sympathetic corporate acquisitions such as the 1968 addition of Italian furniture manufacturer Gavina, which brought designs of Marcel Breuer to the Knoll portfolio.
"What impresses us most about Knoll today is that while it is primarily a highly technologically-oriented Office Systems company in which modular office systems and related products constitute 65% or more of its $700 million in annual sales, the company continues to offer and promote its famous modernist designs from throughout its history and continues to manufacturer them to it highest standards," explained Manitoga Co-President Andrew W. Capitman. "Without Knoll, Modernism would have had a much lower visibility in America and would be far less accessible to the public today. A key factor in Russel Wright's success was his effectiveness in communicating the values behind his designs, and Knoll sustains its success by promoting similar traditions. Manitoga's ongoing admiration for Knoll is also reflected in the fact that past Russel Wright Award Winners for Design Massimo and Lela Vignelli (2001), Jack Lenor Larsen (2003) and Jens Risom (2004) all completed commissions for Knoll."
Accepting the Russel Wright Award for Knoll will be its Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Cogan. "The Modernist tradition that inspired Russel Wright and our founders continues to energize Knoll today. Whether it is the design of a product, a program or some form of communication, design integrity is our guiding principle. We are extremely pleased to be recognized by Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center for this ongoing commitment to design," Mr. Cogan said.
Environmentalism Award to Palisades Interstate Park Commission
The Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) was chosen as recipient of the 2005 Russel Wright Award for Environmentalism. The PIPC was founded in 1900 by the states of New York and New Jersey to acquire and protect the unique and dramatic Palisades cliffs stretching for 30 miles along the western bank of the Hudson River. Over its 100 year history, the PIPC has grown to a 100,000 acre park system with jurisdiction over 24 state parks and eight historic sites, including Bear Mountain State Park and Storm King Mountain State Park, key protected lands of the west bank of the Hudson Highlands. In the 1960's, Russel Wright worked with the PIPC creating a landscape design and summer camp programs. In the 1980's, the Commission played an important role in the establishment of Manitoga as a bequest from Russel Wright.
"The Palisades Interstate Park Commission plays a premier role in preserving the environment and natural beauty of the Hudson River Valley, its Palisades and Highlands," said Capitman. "The PIPC benefits from a strong blending of public and private funding starting with the original gifts of John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, William K. Vanderbilt and other business leaders of the Gilded Age before World War I. Key families, including George W. Perkins, his son, grandson, granddaughter-in-law and granddaughter and generations of Rockefellers and Harrimans, served almost continuously as PIPC Commissioners. In recent years, the PIPC led exhaustive public campaigns to gain control of the dwindling stock of undeveloped Hudson Valley land. This culminated in the 20,000 acre Sterling Forest acquisition in the late 1990's, which achieved its funding goals with public monies from the Federal, New York State and New Jersey State governments and with key contributions from The Nature Conservancy, the Open Space Institute and numerous other foundations and organizations," Capitman continued. "In many ways, Manitoga's program and mission parallels the PIPC on a much smaller scale. Our hiking trails, summer Nature and Design Camp and the restoration and preservation of Russel Wright's home and studio are very similar to PIPC programs, which is why we applaud this institution so enthusiastically," he concluded.
Carol Ash, Executive Director of the PIPC will accept the Russel Wright Award for the Commission. "As the Palisades Interstate Park Commission has done since its creation in 1900, Russel Wright savored the land's natural forms while he revitalized it," Ash observed. "His meticulous intellectual design has left us an environment that remains faithful to its creation, a wonderland for its visitors that shows off its most interesting features; its natural contours, enormous boulders, hemlock groves, sunny fields, spectacular vistas and water, Wright, with his own hands, created at Manitoga a simple, but ultimately delightful world," the PIPC Executive Director concluded.
About the Russel Wright Awards
Manitoga's Russel Wright Awards were created in 2000 when the first Russel Wright Award for Design was presented to Michael Graves. In 2001, awards were presented to Massimo and Lela Vignelli for design, William T. Golden for environmentalism and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. In 2002, award winners were Eva Zeisel for design, Frances Reese for environmentalism and Murray Moss and Moss for the marketing of modernism. In 2003, the design award was presented to Jack Lenor Larsen, the environmentalism award to Professor Harvey Flad of Vassar College and the marketing of modernism award to Rob Forbes, founder of Design Within Reach. In 2004, the design award winner was Jens Risom, the environmentalism award winner was the Institute for Ecosystem Studies and the marketing of modernism award winners were Michael and Stephen Maharam of Maharam. Honorees are selected by Manitoga's Board of Directors, and award winners have always accepted their awards in person at Manitoga's annual award ceremony and benefit luncheon, this year scheduled for October 2.
About Knoll, Inc.
Founded in 1938, Knoll pioneered the principles of modern design in the workplace, from space planning to furniture to accessories. More than 40 Knoll products are exhibited in the permanent Design Collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Headquartered in East Greenville, Pennsylvania, Knoll serves clients in North America through a network of more than 200 dealerships and 100 showrooms and regional offices. The Company operates four manufacturing sites in North America: East Greenville, Pennsylvania; Grand Rapids and Muskegon, Michigan; and Toronto, Ontario. In addition, Knoll has plants in Foligno and Graffignana, Italy. The Knoll commitment to high environmental standards is mandated by a comprehensive Environmental, Health & Safety Management Plan.
About the PIPC
The Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) is a bi-state organization overseeing public lands in New York and New Jersey that together comprise the Palisades park system. Governors Theodore Roosevelt of New York and Foster Voorhees of New Jersey joined the cause, and in 1900, the two state legislatures created PIPC. The interstate agreement was forged in an effort to preserve the natural landscape of the Palisades region for future generations, and the commission set about acquiring land along the river for public parks. In 1937, the US Congress authorized a federal charter to merge the two state creations into one entity. The Commission is made up of ten commissioners, five appointed by each Governor, who serve staggered five-year terms. The organization's stewardship mission has been expanded beyond the cliffs to a larger area of land along the Hudson River and westward around the New Jersey and New York border. The Palisades park system now includes twenty-four parks and eight historic sites, covering over 100,000 acres in eight counties (Bergen, Passaic, Morris and Warren in New Jersey, and Rockland, Orange, Sullivan and Webster in New York.). The park system has a wide variety of recreational facilities, museums and nature centers, and hosts nine million visit a year.
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A View for Generations
Palisades Interstate
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Bear Mountain
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Bear Mountain
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