Knoll

Home/Brands/Knoll
Knoll furniture specialists

The frame was built to outlive you. The hide was not.

A Barcelona or a Pollock is engineered around its steel, and that steel rarely fails. The leather stretched over it is the part that ages. We handle Knoll leather chair repair on the original frame, in New York, Long Island and New Jersey.

Get a free estimate Call (347) 310-7483

Knoll chairs
we service

Knoll leather chair repair across the range, from a single office chair to a full boardroom.

Knoll Barcelona chair in tufted brown leather on a polished steel X-frame
Barcelona Chair
Knoll Pollock executive chair in brown leather with a polished aluminum rim and caster base
Pollock Chair
Knoll Saarinen executive chair upholstered in brown leather on a swivel base
Saarinen Executive Chair
Knoll Florence lounge chair with brown leather cushions on a slim steel frame
Florence Lounge Chair
Knoll Bertoia diamond chair with a leather seat pad fitted over the welded wire shell
Bertoia Chair

Common leather issues

Even the best hide on the best frame wears. Most Knoll leather chair repair starts with one of these eight: scratches, scuffs, cracks, color loss, tears, stains, wear or dryness.

View all services
Close-up of a pale scratch cutting across dark brown leather on a Knoll chair
Scratches
Scuffed black leather with the surface finish rubbed dull
Scuffs
Network of fine cracks across a dried brown leather seat panel
Cracks
Patch of faded color on brown leather where the pigment has worn away
Color loss
Open tear in dark leather exposing the lighter layer underneath
Tears
Dried liquid stain marking the surface of light brown leather
Stains
Leather worn smooth and shiny around a tufted button on a seat cushion
Wear
Dry, stiff leather grain that has lost its natural oils and flexibility
Dryness
Why repair rather than replace

Preserve modern icons

Knoll builds frames to outlast the leather stretched over them, and warrants them accordingly: twelve years on a seating frame, three on the upholstery. Knoll leather chair repair closes that gap. Restoring the original hide keeps the look, the feel and the resale value — which a replacement seat, cut from a different skin, will not.

Chair reupholstery
Row of Knoll leather executive chairs around a boardroom table with a city view

Where wear interrupts the design

Same details. A longer life.

Six places Knoll leather chair repair usually begins, and what each one actually takes.

Scuffs and scratches along the front edge of a black leather Knoll seat cushion
Scuffs & scratchesSanded back, refilled and re-finished so the repair sits level with the grain around it.
Brown leather cushion with the color worn thin across the seating area
Color wearMatched on the piece, in daylight, then blended out past the worn area rather than stopped at its edge.
Split stitching along a welted seam on a cream leather cushion
Seam splitsRestitched through the original holes where the leather allows, so the welt keeps its line.
Close-up of a tufted button pulled into a black leather Knoll cushion
Tufting detailsButtons reset to the original depth. Pull them tighter than they were and the whole grid reads wrong.
Worn leather piping running along the edge of a black cushion
Piping & edgesThe first thing to go on a Knoll cushion, and the detail that dates a bad repair fastest.
Deep-tufted black leather cushion that has lost its shape and support
Cushion supportRefilled to the original height. A flat cushion makes good leather look worn out.
Knoll leather chair repair in progress: a craftsman works a tufted black cushion at the workshop bench

The geometry is in the details

  • Panel alignment
  • Stitching and tufting
  • Leather grain and sheen

These pieces are drawn on a grid, so a panel sitting a few millimeters out reads as an error. Knoll upholsters most of them in leather from Spinneybeck, its own tannery, and that range splits into finished hides that take a refinish and naked hides that do not — spot-rub a naked leather and you darken only the spot. Knoll leather chair repair is a different job on each, so we identify the finish before quoting.

Stack of leather swatches in browns and blacks used for matching Knoll upholstery

Knoll leather chair repair, before and after

Send us your photos
Barcelona chair before and after leather repair, cracked cushions restored to an even finish
Barcelona chair repair
Pollock executive chair before and after leather repair, worn arms and seat brought back
Pollock chair repair
Saarinen executive chair before and after leather repair, faded brown leather re-colored
Saarinen chair repair
Bertoia diamond chair before and after leather pad repair, refitted to the wire shell
Bertoia chair repair
Three levels of work

Choose the right level of care

Most Knoll leather chair repair stops at the first level. We tell you when it does not.

Hand working an awl along a split seam on a tufted black leather cushion

Localized leather repair

Address scuffs, scratches and small areas of damage while preserving the original leather wherever possible.

Hand applying finish to a brown leather cushion with a white cloth

Color & finish restoration

Restore color and even out finish where leather has faded or become uneven from use and light exposure.

Brush applying color to a scuffed black leather panel on a Knoll cushion

Cushion & panel work

Repair or replace a panel when the hide is past saving, matched to the original construction and proportions.

Before you write to us

What to photograph

Three photos are usually enough for us to price Knoll leather chair repair without visiting first.

Black leather Barcelona chair photographed in full in a bright room

The whole piece

Show the entire chair, sofa or ottoman.

Underside of a leather seat showing the frame, webbing and attachment points

Construction details

Include the underside and attachment areas.

Close-up of cracked black leather beside a piped seam

The area of concern

A clear, close-up photo of the damage.

Get a free estimate Text your photos
Questions we get asked

Knoll leather chair repair, answered

Can you repair a Barcelona chair without re-covering it?

Usually, yes. Knoll builds each Barcelona cushion from 40 individual squares cut from a single cowhide, hand-welted and hand-tufted with buttons. Damage is normally confined to one or two of those squares, so we repair those and leave the rest alone. Matching a new square against 39 from the same hide is the hard part, and the reason we quote from photos of the whole cushion.

Will the repair match the rest of the chair?

We match on the piece itself in daylight, not from a chart, then blend the finish out past the repair. Aniline and lightly finished leathers are the hardest, because the color sits in the hide rather than on top of it — we will tell you before we start if a full-panel approach is the safer answer.

Does the chair have to leave my home or office?

Color and finish work is often done on site. Restitching, refilling and panel work need the bench — but Barcelona cushions hang from belting-leather straps and lift straight off, so the polished frame stays with you and only the leather travels.

My Knoll chair is still under warranty. Should I use that instead?

Check what it covers before you wait on it. Knoll warrants seating frames for twelve years but upholstery, textiles and finishes for three, and the terms exclude normal wear and tear along with changes in surface finish and colorfastness caused by age or light (Knoll warranty). On paper the frame outlives its own leather by nine years. That gap is the work we do.

Do you work on vintage Knoll pieces?

Yes, and we work around the maker’s marks rather than over them. On a Barcelona the Knoll logo and the Mies van der Rohe signature are stamped into the leg. Buff, tape or polish over that stamp during a repair and you take value off the piece.

Good design deserves more time.

Send a few photos and we will tell you what your chair needs, and what it does not. Most Knoll leather chair repair is quoted the same day.

Send your photos Call (347) 310-7483
Scroll to Top