Plant It Earth

After 20 years working for Knoll and collaborating with modern furniture titans like Harry Bertoia, Richard Schultz went into business for himself.

Educated as a mechanical engineer and industrial designer at Iowa State University and the Design Institute of the Illinois Institute of Technology, outdoor furniture designer Schultz joined Knoll Associates in New York in 1951, most famously creating the “petal” table (1960) and the leisure collection (1966), each winners of numerous awards. In 1992 Schultz launched his own company with his son Peter, reissuing his Knoll classics along with such new designs as “Topiary” (1996) and “Wing” (2008). In this exhibition, several works created over half a century are being presented on the Perelman Building's outdoor Café Terrace.

Woolly Pocket’s breathable fabric planters, made of recycled plastic bottles, whick water away to avoid root rot and are available in nine different sizes and shapes (ranging from $29 to $247) and three colors that include both freestanding and modular living-wall models. If you’re brave enough, you can even carry your plant and its planter around as a tote with the Woolly Vagabond “living breathing handbag.”

Today’s planters are smarter than ever. They breathe, they drain, and some even light up.