Benjamin Pardo

Lecturer in Architecture

Benjamin Pardo is an Executive based in New York, NY with broad global product development and design strategy capabilities for renowned international brands. He is a leader with the ability to transform luxury and design driven companies, both public and private to achieve profitability, product excellence and consumer loyalty.

His design and management skills have a proven track record of product innovation, organic revenue growth, all while expanding enterprise value.

At Knoll, Benjamin guided the business as a section 16 officer on the senior management team to guide all aspects of design at Knoll.  Benjamin commissioned and facilitated the work of outside architects and designers at Knoll and its portfolio of brands. During his tenure Benjamin redefined the global product portfolio, interior spaces, showrooms, and retail architecture for Knoll within the bounds of the company’s vast heritage and brand. He worked closely and guided many corporate and external teams including communications, marketing, and engineering to supply chain.

Prior to Knoll, Benjamin established the Italian company Unifor and the Molteni Group family of brands in the United States. Starting with a clean slate, he created a highly profitable mid-eight figure business during his tenure.

He has briefed, collaborated, and guided the work of Rem Koolhaas, Marc Newson, David Rockwell, Antenna Design, Barber Osgerby, Piero Lissoni, Antonio Citterio, Aldo Rossi, Richard Sapper, Lella and Massimo Vignelli, Ross Lovegrove, Ini Archibong, Glen Oliver Loew, and many others. Further he has curated, maintained, and renewed the work of Florence Knoll, Mies Van Der Rohe, Harry Bertoia, Marcel Breuer, George Nakashima, Eero Saarinen and Nico Zographos.

Benjamin is currently a professor of interior architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, he has also taught at The Ecole Nationale Superiore des Arts Decoratif, Aalto University, and Pratt. He has lectured at the Museum of Modern Art in NY, The Chicago Institute of Art, Cranbrook Academy, Harvard University and a multitude of other Design Institutions, Universities, and private companies.

Works and interviews have been published in The New York Times, T Magazine, Monocle Magazine, il Corriere della Sera, Elle Décor – US, Italian and French Editions, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, The BBC, The Times of London, The Washington Post, Design Milk, Abitare Magazine, Domus Magazine, Wired Magazine, The Seattle Times, The Atlanta Journal & Constitution, The Chicago Tribune, Architectural Digest Magazine, DEZEEN, and Dwell Magazine.