Eames Demetrios and Michele Oka Doner Present Awards on
September 30
Herman Miller, Inc., will receive the 2007 Russel Wright Award for design, a field in which the Michigan-based company has excelled for more than 80 years. Herman Miller also is a leader in corporate sustainability initiatives and in promoting public awareness about authentic and good design.
Herman Miller's legendary partnerships with the world's leading industrial designers, including Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, Isamu Noguchi, and George Nelson, produced some of the 20th century's most innovative products for home and office. Nelson laid out Herman Miller's design philosophy more than 50 years ago, with such declarations as, "What you make is important," "The product must be honest," and "There is a market for Good Design."
Herman Miller has donated the George Nelson Swag Leg Desk and Swag Leg Chair for the auction that accompanies the Russel Wright Award event.
The company also is being honored for its prominent role in promoting awareness and education about authentic design--especially exciting as Manitoga enters into partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Preserve the Modern initiative.
In addition, Herman Miller's Perfect Vision strategy aims to achieve a range of significant sustainability targets--including zero waste to landfills and zero hazardous waste generation by the year 2020. The company is a pioneer in corporate environmental stewardship, and has worked with its supply base, its customers and other companies to advance sustainability in all dimensions of its business. It has more than a dozen LEED-certified facilities, and is a founding member of the U.S. Green Building Council.
Filmmaker Eames Demetrios, grandson of legendary design couple Charles and Ray Eames and a principal in the Eames Foundation, will introduce Herman Miller at the Award Luncheon on September 30 in Garrison, NY. Board Chairman Mike Volkema will accept the award on behalf of the company. Volkema led Herman Miller as President and CEO from 1995 to 2004.
Mitchell "Micky" Wolfson, Jr. will receive the second Russel Wright Award for Stewardship of Modernism. In terms of sharing the sheer exuberance of modern design, Mickey Wolfson's Wolfsonian Institute at Florida International University and his Wolfsoniana Museum in Genoa, Italy, are unparalleled.
Like Russel Wright, whose Manitoga became an example of how to live in harmony with nature in an increasingly frenetic world, Mickey Wolfson's collecting became a tool to encourage people to see the world in new ways. The Wolfsonian and Wolfsoniana Museum use objects to illustrate the persuasive power of art and design to explore what it means to be modern, and to tell the story of social, political and technological changes that have transformed our world.
Wolfson's expansive collection and educational initiatives serve as far-reaching tools for the study and understanding of 20th Century Modernism. His passion to generate thought and provoke inquiry is manifest in the choices he has made. With the heart of a preservationist and the intellect of an historian, Wolfson has steadfastly collected materials that illustrate the profound power of art and design to persuade. Wolfson maintains that it is only through conscious examination of the entirety of experience that we can learn from the past, better shape our present moment and positively influence the future. In this manner, Wolfson can be viewed as a modernist crusader, his collection advocating compassion, collaboration, exchange and tolerance.
Michele Oka Doner, internationally acclaimed artist and designer, will introduce Wolfson. Oka Doner and Wolfson have donated an autographed collector's first limited edition of their book, Miami Beach: Blueprint of an Eden, a deeply personal portrayal of Miami Beach from the 1920s through the 1960s.
Since 2000, the Russel Wright Awards have recognized individuals, institutions and companies that carry forward Wright's legacy in Modernism, landscape design and environmentalism. Both international and regional leaders have received the Award, including Michael Graves, Murray Moss, Jack Lenor Larsen, Massimo and Lella Vignelli, Jens Risom, Michael and Stephen Maharam, Design within Reach founder Rob Forbes, legendary ceramics designer Eva Zeisel, Viktor Schreckengost, Knoll Inc., The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, the late Frances Stevens Reese, William T. Golden, Frances Fergusson, Harvey Keyes Flad, The Institute of Ecosystem Studies, and the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.
Sotheby's Vice Chairman David Redden serves as auctioneer for this year's outstanding offering of modern furnishings and decorative arts, including rare Russel Wright Bauer Pottery and other Russel Wright collectibles, Herman Miller’s newly re-issued George Nelson Swag Leg Desk and Chair, and objects from Eva Zeisel, Jens Risom, Maharam and Alexander Girard.
Taconic Garden Lounges from Munder Skiles, offerings from Thomas O'Brien's new collection for Reed and Barton; cookware from Martha Stewart's new Macy's collection; and exciting lots from Ralph Lauren, Gabrielle Sanchez, Chelsea Editions, Ted Muehling, Design Within Reach and Buck House join beach weekends, boating packages and gift certificates for favorite Hudson Valley boutiques and eateries rounding out the fare.
Kristen Sorenson, Erik Stark, Gabrielle Sanchez and Mahmoud Shahbodaghi chair the 2007 event at The Garrison from noon to 3:30 p.m. Chuck Burleigh and Lithgow Osborne return as Auction Chairs.
Manitoga, Russel Wright's Home, Studio and 75-acre Woodland Garden, will be open to guests following the Luncheon and Auction. To purchase tickets or for additional information, visit www.russelwrightcenter.org or contact the Manitoga office at 845.424.3812 or info@russelwrightcenter.org.
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