Material Lust Competitors

Knoll brings order and beauty to workplace, hospitality, and residential environments. Founded in New York City in 1938, the furniture and interiors brand is known for design collaborations with the architects, artists, and designers who shape our cultural zeitgeist. The Knoll portfolio features works from modernist greats including Eero Saarinen, Marcel Breuer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, alongside new furniture designed by contemporary provocateurs like Willo Perron, Jonathan Muecke, and architecture firm Johnston Marklee. With a relational approach that considers color, material, finish, and form, Knoll allows architects and designers to deliver a complete experience of space.

MUJI was founded in 1980. Its origin was a thorough rationalization of the manufacturing process with an eye to creating simple, low-cost, good quality products. Specifically, we reexamined products through three lenses: material selection, inspection process and simplification of packaging. For instance, if you omit the bleaching process for pulp, the resulting paper is light beige in color. MUJI used this paper for its packaging and labels. The ensuing products are remarkably pure and fresh. In notable contrast to the prevailing over-embellished products in the marketplace, MUJI's products both won great appreciation and sent shock waves not only through Japan but across the entire world. Mujirushi Ryohin, MUJI in Japanese, translates as "no-brand quality goods." MUJI's goal is to give customers a rational satisfaction, expressed not with, "This is what I really want" but with "This will do." "This is what I really want" expresses both faint egoism and discord while "This will do" expresses conciliatory reasoning. We have been credited with being "resource-saving", "low-priced", "simple", "anonymous" and "nature-oriented". There are more than 1,000 MUJI stores around the world carrying more than 7,000 items ranging from clothing and household goods to food and even houses. But the foundation of our ideology hasn't changed since the day we were conceived; like the compass that points due North, we continue to orient ourselves to the basis and universality of daily life.

Twin brothers Richard and Antony Joseph founded Joseph Joseph in 2003, combining their respective experience in product design and business – Antony studied design at Central St Martins whilst Richard studied business at Cambridge University. Specialising in contemporary kitchenware, Joseph Joseph is now internationally recognised for producing some of the most stylish and technically innovative products available, and has become one of the fastest growing companies in the worldwide homewares market. Their unique ability to match form and function has earned them global recognition for their multi-award-winning designs.