The latest exhibition at MillerKnoll in New York, High-Touch, draws from the MillerKnoll Archives and private collections to bring together their furniture, objects, and interiors. Curated by Luke Baker, High-Touch considers the designers’ work—in which they excelled at pairing furniture forms down to their most elegant essence—in context with one another to reveal a maximalist richness in their approach.

“Looking at [their] interiors and products, it’s easy to understand why they’re often described as minimalists,” writes Baker in an essay available in the 9th floor showroom gallery during the show. “Revisiting both Bennett and D’Urso at the height of their careers reveals a shared methodology that’s maximalist to the core—grounded in consideration of every detail, intensely hands-on, and highly attuned to the human experience.”

Both Bennett and D’Urso created complete worlds where architecture, interiors, and objects were designed together for singular impact, recalling Gesamtkunstwerk pioneers like Josef Hoffmann, and Margaret MacDonald, and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Bennett’s design practice was wide-ranging, encompassing jewelry, textiles, furniture (including his 20-piece 1990 collection for Geiger), and houses. Residences, like his own reimagined aerie in New York’s historic Dakota Apartments, embodied this comprehensive ethos. D’Urso’s early interiors collapsed architecture and furniture into abstract environments designed down to the light switch. His 1980 debut collection for Knoll presented a suite of pieces conceived together to complement this complete lifestyle.

“I think Ward learned from my more architectural way of looking at things, and he taught me to try to design everything—that no detail was too small,” D’Urso reflected in a recent interview. “That's something that really stuck with me my entire career, and I think the same is true for him, too.”

Together, their work reflects a shared late-20th-century interpretation of total design: a holistic approach to modern living rooted in the idea of designing complete environments rather than isolated elements that drew on Art Nouveau, the Vienna Secession, and the Arts and Crafts tradition.

Spanning five decades, High-Touch reveals the craft behind the restraint of New York’s minimalist interiors—from rare Ward Bennett pieces, including a wicker 1060–C Sled Chair to original Joe D’Urso sketches and an unseen prototype dining chair for Knoll. These works are contextualized by archival photographs and production prints from High‑Tech: The Industrial Style and Source Book for the Home, all of which ground modernism in everyday life.

“For Bennett and D’Urso, arriving at “less” is, in actuality, achieved through an intensely high-touch process that asks more of design,” Baker writes. “Within these environments, defined by their carefully orchestrated restraint, something more expansive and important is ultimately created: room for the actions, exchanges, and emotions of life to unfold.”

High-Touch was curated by Luke Baker and designed by Jonah Takagi with graphic design by Various Projects. The exhibition is on view in MillerKnoll's New York showroom, in the 9th floor gallery, from May 15 to October 2, 2026.

Photography credits

1. Ward Bennett in his apartment, The Dakota, New York, 1963. Photograph by Phillip Harrington.

2. Bennett’s apartment, The Dakota, New York, c. 1965. Photograph by John Bulmer.

3. D’Urso–Heller apartment, c. 1978. Photograph by Peter Aaron.

4. Photographer unknown.

5. D’Urso sketch. Knoll Archives.

6. D’Urso Table, brochure photography. Knoll Archives.