Carl Gustav Magnusson was born in
Malmö, Sweden, and grew up in
Canada, including
Innisfail, Alberta;
Toronto, Ontario, where he attended
St. Andrew's College, Aurora; and
Vancouver, British Columbia, where he attended
St. George's School (Vancouver). He studied engineering and architecture at the
University of Idaho and architecture at the
Chalmers Institute of Technology in
Gothenburg, Sweden. In 1967 he joined the Office of
Charles and Ray Eames in California and, in 1969, Magnusson opened his own design practice in
Rudolf Schindler's studio on Kings Road in
West Hollywood, California. Magnusson's prototype for a wooden toy system and hardware for a hanging fabric room divider manufactured by Fortress Chairs, Inc., were featured in "California Design 11," published in 1971.
Knoll In 1976 Magnusson joined
Knoll as Director of Graphics and Showroom Design and was named Director of Design for Europe shortly thereafter. He designed Knoll showrooms in London, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Zurich, Florence, Rome, Amsterdam and Turin. In 1993, he was named Senior Vice President, Director of Design Worldwide, and, in 2003, Executive Vice President, Director of Design. As a design director, Magnusson widened the range of designers that Knoll commissioned work from—recruiting both established and younger talents. In the late 1980s, Magnusson rekindled Knoll's relationship with
Florence Knoll and renowned designers such as esthetic theorist
Ettore Sottass, which led to numerous iconic pieces, including the Mandarin chair and the Spyder table. Sculptor
Maya Lin collaborated closely with Magnusson in 1998 to create Knoll's Maya Lin line of furniture that Knoll continues to sell today. Similarly, architect
Frank Gehry worked with Knoll to create Knoll's Fog Collection. His work with
Ross Lovegrove led to a number of iconic products. Magnusson continued to contribute his own designs to Knoll as well, including the Magnusson Desk (1993), the RPM Chair (1997), and modular office systems, the Spelo desk collection; Dividends, with David Noel; Currents, with Robert Reuter; and Autostrada, with Robert Reuter and Charlie Rozier. During his 29 years at Knoll, Magnusson was also active as a curator and educator. He established the Knoll Design Symposium at
Cranbrook Academy of the Arts in Bloomfield Hills and in 1997; he co-founded with Albert Pfeiffer (AIA) The Knoll Museum In addition to Knoll, he has designed products for Spinneybeck, Teknion, Stegner Engineering, Arexit, Momentum Textiles, Allseating, Nienkamper, and the
MoMA Design Store (co-designed with his wife, architect Emanuela Frattini Magnusson). He has lectured on design matters for
BMW, Knoll, Maharam,
AIA, Waterworks, IIDA,
ArtCenter College of Design,
Yale Library,
Michael Graves College and
SCAD, among others. saying of him: "he is an industrial designer, as well as a curator, lecturer, mentor, inventor, organizer, talent scout, and visionary. And his influence has spread out in multiple directions around the globe." ==Personal life==