Early Richard Schultz Sofa / Daybed in Mohair, Model 704, Knoll, 1950's

This early Richard Schultz for Knoll daybed sofa is stunning! A standard tuxedo style, mohair-wrapped, and sharper than Brad Pitt’s jawline in the ‘90s. We had this bad boy repholstered in a sumptuous butterscotch mohair, with the quilted seatback, done just like the original spec from the 1950s. It’s the kind of detail that makes design nerds nod approvingly while everyone else just drools.

On first glance, it’s all clean lines and angular precision; the sort of architectural sofa that looks as good against a glass curtain wall as it does in a loft filled with books and brass lamps. Take a closer look and you’ll find the quirky genius of Richard Schultz: a concealed mechanism beneath the seat allows the entire cushion block to pull out from the back, transforming the sofa into a daybed with a gentle couple tugs. From cocktail perch to napping bed, this sofa’s got range.

Richard Schultz (1926–2021) is most famous for his weather-defying 1966 Outdoor Collection (still in production at Knoll), but his career began inside the Knoll studios in the early 1950s. Trained as an industrial designer, Schultz’s work always balanced technical ingenuity with sculptural simplicity. He was one of the quiet geniuses of postwar design — the kind who could make a mechanism feel as natural as a shadow line.

Knoll was the design powerhouse of that era. Founded by Hans and Florence Knoll, the company made it their mission to bring European modernism into American living rooms, working with legends like Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, and Harry Bertoia. Richard Schultz was part of that ecosystem an American designer given the space to innovate under Florence Knoll’s razor-sharp vision for “total design.”

This sofa is early Schultz: clever, angular, and deeply functional, but also ridiculously chic. A tuxedo-framed convertible, upholstered in a shade of mohair so delicious you’ll want to order it on toast. It’s rare, it’s radiant, and it’s ready for its close-up.

With the daybed pulled out the daybed portion measures 30.5" D x 83" L
With the daybed tucked below, the inside seating portion of the sofa is 24.5"