Originally conceptualized in 1978, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown introduced their line of chairs based on historical styles in May 1984. Production at Knoll peaked in the mid-1980s, and though critically well-received, they were not a commercial success at the time. A few of the models were reintroduced in a lighter proportion in Japan in 1991. According to Dr. Kathryn B. Hiesinger, in her essay in Out of the Ordinary: Robert Venturi Denise Scott Brown and Associates: Architecture, Urbanism, Design, of the nine chairs, the Hepplewhite, Biedermeier, Gothic Revival and Art Nouveau chairs were available only through special order.