Eszter Haraszty

Eszter Haraszty (1920– 24 November 1994) was a Hungarian-born designer best known for her work as head of the textiles department at Knoll.

Career Eszter Haraszty was born on September 28, 1920 in Hungary as Edith Herczka and received her education from the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest. After graduation, she worked as a costume designer before moving to the U.S. in 1946, where she moved into textile design.

She was living with the Breuers when Hans Knoll saw her portfolio. He hired her as a textiles designer at his company, Knoll, where she began working under Marianne Strengell. In 1949, Haraszty was appointed director of KnollTextiles (the Knoll textiles department), a position she held until 1955. Knoll's look in the 1950s and 60s can be attributed to Haraszty who reissued older prints in bolder colorwaves, including its ubiquitous red-orange color, revolutionizing commercial upholstery fabrics and textures. Under Haraszty, KnollTextiles explored then-novel fabrics, such as nylon, mixing them with other materials. the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Château Dufresne.

Personal life and death Haraszty quit Knoll to move to Coldwater Canyon, where she and her husband renovated a house in her signature bright colors and florals.

Haraszty died on 24 November 1994 of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The Embroiderer's Portfolio of Flower Designs, Eszter Haraszty. 1981