How Can We Make This a Better World? And What Does Zero Have to Do with It?

How do we balance using our resources to earn a profit while doing it responsibly? At Herman Miller, we look to our statement of corporate values called Things That Matter. One of the nine is called “A Better World.”

Our third annual Better World Report talks about how we’re trying to live up to our Better World values—advocating for the environment, embracing inclusiveness, fostering well-being, and serving our communities. Read it for a look at our progress so far.

And the zero? It graces the cover of the report because getting to a zero operational footprint by 2020 is such a big deal for us. We’re proud to say that we’re 83.5% of the way there. For the full story, check out our video “Zero is hero.”

Herman Miller Picnic Posters: From Aba to MoMA

As head of Herman Miller’s creative crew, Steve Frykholm has shaped the company’s image for nearly 40 years and won plenty of recognition for it. But his love of poster making began with a stint in Aba, Nigeria, where he worked in the Peace Corps. The journey his posters took eventually landed them in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

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How Do You Decide from Whom to Buy?

Graphic via: Human Rights Campaign

When I buy something, I triangulate: I use more than two ways to research the purchase, from asking friends to visiting a store to reading reviews from experts online. The Human Rights Campaign’s 2009 Buying for Equality guide gives me another.
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An Offer Suppliers Couldn’t Refuse

Companies that lean on their suppliers usually do it to reduce costs or speed delivery. It’s less common for the issue to be about getting more information.
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LEED Is Getting into the Measurement Game

LEED is the U.S.’s most recognized seal of approval for green buildings. But LEED certifies a building’s performance based on what goes into it, not on how it actually performs once it’s built. So how is measurement changing LEED?
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I Prefer to Lie Down on the Job

Well, not exactly lie down, more like lean back. Turns out, I’m not alone.
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Now Open: Our New Los Angeles Showroom

Photos by: tvsdesign

Herman Miller has opened a new showroom at 3641 Holdrege Avenue in Los Angeles. It continues our presence in the LA design community, which began in 1949.
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Helping with the Calm after the Storm

Photo credit: NASA

When Hurricane Ike hit Beaumont, Texas, in 2008, it made rubble out of what had been a chemical plant for a major oil company. The wind had hardly died down before the question came, “How fast can you help us get up and running again?”
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How to Give a Classic Design a Little Lift

There are many definitions of a classic. The Eames Aluminum Group, the 1958 creation of Charles and Ray Eames, meets all of them, including the ability to take a bit of tinkering in stride. In this case, it’s the addition of a pneumatic height adjustment.
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Down on the Farm

How do you build so you blend in with a field? And why bother? Because when you take stewardship seriously, you don’t build an office building in the country without grappling with what it will do to the land.
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