Design, What's Up
October 9, 2012
By David Foster
“Design addresses itself to the need,” as Charles Eames used to say. Sometimes the need was for furniture well-suited for modern living. At other times it was for a film, a toy, or an educational exhibit. Another need, sometimes overshadowed by other projects, was for graphic design—a task the Eames Office, with Charles and his wife Ray at its helm, approached with the same thoughtfulness and diligence it gave all pursuits.
Inspired by Charles and paying homage to the rigorous process that produced many iconic designs, the PM Gallery of London entitled its new exhibit on graphic works of the Eames Office Address the Need. On display alongside well-known pieces, such as the Giant House of Cards and Powers of Ten film, are brochures, posters, and other rarely seen items. It should be a visual treat.
If you’re in the area, check it out. Address the Need will be open to the public until November 3, 2012. For more information on the exhibit, click here.
Design, What's Up
October 8, 2012
By David Foster
For designer Gianfranco Zaccai, the parallels between food and design run deep. But foremost, he recognizes that, “A great meal is not just great food, but is great companionship. A great piece of design is something that allows people to be together.”
Zaccai’s desire to bring people together is well suited for healthcare, where patients, family members, caregivers, and support staff often share space. This close proximity demands a careful balance of needs—a fact not lost on Zaccai when he developed Compass, a healthcare furniture system for patient rooms, exam rooms, and other clinical spaces. Wanting to design a better experience for everyone, Zaccai and Herman Miller researchers spent a lot of time talking with people—more than 550, actually. With each person helping to ensure that Compass got the balance just right.
The resulting design has won multiple awards. And it demonstrates that good design, like good food, can bring people together.
Check out Gianfranco Zaccai’s contribution to Why Design, a new video series featuring stories from Herman Miller’s creative network. There are eight videos in total, with a new one debuting every Monday. Next week is Studio 7.5.
Design, What's Up
October 2, 2012
By Mindy Koschmann
A Ray Eames biography would be better expressed through pictures—with the soft, delicate arcs of charcoal from her early sketches, and the bold blocks of yellow, blue, and red of her paintings.
Throughout her life, Ray used pictures, and later, objects, as a means of communication and expression. A study of correspondence between Charles and Ray hints at their reliance on a transcendent, pictographic language. It was as if their ideas were too brilliant and beautiful to capture in the strict confines of a word or phrase, so pictures became their favored form of ideation.
It’s clear that color was the defining parlance of Ray’s unique visual language. Influenced by her study with Expressionist painter Hans Hofmann, Ray’s love of bold, primary color is evident in every facet of her life and work—the exterior panels of the Pacific Palisades home she shared with Charles, her Arts and Architecture magazine covers, and her dress designs and textile patterns.
Ray’s visual language colored her design partnerships with Charles; her aesthetic imprint is unmistakable on collaborations like the Eames Wire Base Low Table. It’s now being offered for a limited time in a Select Edition, in three Ray-inspired colors—cobalt blue, red-orange, and yellow-gold.
Design, What's Up
October 1, 2012
By David Foster
Paper doesn’t require any special equipment—“All you have to do is sit down, cut paper out, and score it, bend it, and glue it.” Designer Irving Harper has a way of making it sound easy; when you see his creations you realize it’s not. Harper is just humble and extraordinarily talented.
This fact becomes even more apparent when you reflect back on his long and distinguished career. A long-time member of George Nelson’s design office, Harper is widely acknowledged as the creator of some of the 20th century’s most iconic designs: the Marshmallow Sofa, the Ball Clock, and (something very close to our heart) the Herman Miller logo, among many well-known designs.
Much in same way he transforms paper into art, Irving Harper has always had a knack for turning humble materials and seemingly simple ideas into something special.
In Irving Harper’s hands, you can imagine any material to be versatile.
See more of Irving Harper’s paper sculptures at Why Design, a new video series featuring designers from Herman Miller’s creative network. There are eight videos in total, with a new one debuting every Monday. Next week is designer Gianfranco Zaccai.
Design, What's Up
September 24, 2012
By David Foster
Ayse Birsel sees herself as a designer of life. “Design is imagination, and if you can imagine something you can make it happen,” she believes. “If I design my life, maybe I can build more coherence and align myself with my values.”
Coherence and alignment, along with innovation and problem solving, are all attributes of Birsel’s work. Her secret? Deconstructing preconceptions (both hers and those of others) in order to see things from a fresh perspective. When she reflects on her life, Birsel applies much the same technique—because, like design, a good life is a harmony of what you want and what you need. When the two are in balance, the results can break new ground.
Learn more about Ayse Birsel’s approach to designing life on Why Design, a new video series featuring designers from Herman Miller’s creative network. There are eight videos in total, with a new one debuting every Monday. Stay Tuned; next week is designer Irving Harper.
Design, Well-Being
September 20, 2012
By David Foster
How many companies can say that and mean it, literally? Not many. Over the years we’ve learned that one of best ways to keep backaches and pains at bay is by properly supporting and aligning a person’s spine while they sit—particularly for the long periods of time they spend sitting at work. That’s why we design the best ergonomic chairs we can.
Consider the Embody office chair, designed by Bill Stumpf and Jeff Weber. More than 30 professionals, physicians, and PhDs in the fields of biomechanics, vision, physical therapy, and ergonomics worked with Stumpf and Weber to develop the instinctive back of the Embody Chair. Sit in it and you’ll feel the backrest automatically adjust as you move and shift positions. The result keeps your spine aligned and healthy.
When we say, “We’ve got your back,” we mean it.
Interested in the science of sitting? Check out Herman Miller’s research here.
Design, What's Up
September 17, 2012
By David Foster
“The camera has always been a guide,” reflects designer Don Chadwick. “It has allowed me to see things and focus on things that maybe an average person wouldn’t even notice.”
That ability, to see the world in a new way, is exactly what helped Chadwick, along with Bill Stumpf, to create the Aeron Chair. Together they designed the first chair to replace foam and fabric cushions, typical of most office chairs, with a mesh-like suspension material that was not only more comfortable, but offered healthier ergonomic support as well. Aeron Chair has since become an icon of design innovation and is the world’s best-selling ergonomic work chair, with a new one produced every 17 seconds.
What would the world be like if Don Chadwick, and designers like him, saw things like you or I? It’s hard to say, but it would certainly be harder to find a comfortable place to sit.
Check out Don Chadwick’s contribution to Why Design, a new video series featuring designers from Herman Miller’s creative network. There are eight videos in total, with a new one debuting every Monday. Stay Tuned; next week is designer Ayse Birsel.
Design, Products, What's Up
September 10, 2012
By David Foster
A good surfer makes the idea of riding a wave seem effortless; but as those of us who have tried (and fallen) quickly learn, it’s not easy. “There’s the water; there’s the ocean; and there are split-second decisions—it’s different every single time,” observes avid surfer, Yves Béhar. “It’s not all that different from designing.”
Béhar is known for design, and he makes it look effortless. Whether it’s the frameless back of the SAYL Chair or the biomorphic curves of the Ardea Light, Béhar and his fuseproject team bring years of practice and experience to every product they design.
For Yves Béhar it’s simple: “Let’s try it. Let’s see if it crashes down on top of me. Let’s see if I can actually get through it.” Is he talking about design or surf? In his mind, there’s no difference.
Yves Behar, and his passion for surfing, kicks off Why Design, a new video series featuring designers from Herman Miller’s creative network. There are eight videos in total, with a new one debuting every Monday. Stay Tuned; next week is designer Don Chadwick.
Design, What's Up
September 6, 2012
By David Foster
From his studio in Melbourne, Australia, designer Fabio Ongarato provides identity design, publishing, art direction, and placemaking expertise to clients in architecture, fashion, and retail. Collaborating with Herman Miller on the recent Then X Ten exhibition, Ongarato helped select the ten contemporary artists commissioned to create new poster designs.
What was the thinking that led to the concept of the Then x Ten exhibit?
[We] looked to the past to shape the future. The poster designs created for Herman Miller by Armin Hofmann in the 50s were our inspiration—we imagined what would the modern versions look like today and who would be invited to create them.
Was there challenge in balancing the posters from the past with the new ones?
I wanted them to have equal value—a mirror reflection of past and present. The contemporary image-makers provide a view of Herman Miller today, while the posters of old reconnect people the value of what came before. Steve Frykholm, one of Herman Miller’s most famous poster designers, has helped curate the past images.
Do you have a personal favorite?
The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman poster by Mrzyk & Moriceau has become one of my favorites; it’s a simple black and white drawing depicting amorphous figures sandwiched between two lounge chairs. It’s daring, surreal, absurd, humorous, and sexualized, but most of all, it’s very memorable.
Design, What's Up
September 4, 2012
By David Foster
Long before interdisciplinary design was a buzzword, there was George Nelson—a man for whom no single title was entirely fitting. this fact is acknowledged by George Nelson: Architect | Writer | Designer | Teacher, a traveling exhibit currently on display at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Open until October 14, 2012, the exhibit showcases the many products, graphics, books, videos, and exhibits that bear the mark of Nelson’s multi-talented approach to design.
Can’t make it to Cranbrook? The next stop will be the Nelson’s alma mater, the Yale School of Architecture.
