Better World, What's Up
March 18, 2010
By John Kim
Photo via: Just Means Future of Sustainability Communications & Practice
This Friday, March 19, I’ll be networking with global peers at the Just Means Social Media and CSR conference in London. The conference is an opportunity to share stories and best practices as participants begin to fully grasp the power of the converging forces of social media and corporate social responsibility, which are totally in line with our “Better World” values here at Herman Miller.
In an era where anyone can be a global reporter, businesses have moved to increase their level of corporate transparency; the days of making a statement and hiding behind press releases are long gone. That this idea is catching on in the mainstream is reflected in the speaker roster: representatives from Unilever, Dell, Royal Dutch Shell, software giant SAP, and The Guardian newspaper. Others are on the agenda and participants include representatives ranging from corporate giants like Coca-Cola and Arcelor Mittal, to media agencies such as BSkyB, and international development organizations such as Care International UK.
For more information on the conference visit the Just Means website. And if you want to follow me at the event, I plan to tweet live from the event at @HermanMiller. Watch for hashtag #BetterWorld.
Better World, Technology, What's Up
March 16, 2010
By Randall Braaksma
The faster the network connections, the better people can work at home and on the move. Google thinks more speed for more people is the answer. It’s planning to test a network that will deliver the Internet over 1 gigabit per second fiber connections “in one or more trial locations across the country.”
Holland, Michigan, where our Design Yard facility is located, is one of the communities vying to be chosen. From now until March 26, residents can nominate the city and make the case for why it should be chosen. All you need is a Gmail account. Here’s hoping that Holland will be chosen (and that you’ll help by nominating the city).
Better World, Design, What's Up
March 8, 2010
By Bill Holm
Photo via: The Cool Hunter
New eco-treehouses are a far cry from the ramshackle tetanus hazards we cobbled together and fell out of when we were young. Still, today’s amazing treehouses touch the kid inside us, as well as the responsible adult.
The world’s first major public exhibition of green-design treehouses—“TreeLife” by The Cool Hunter—will unveil innovative and creative sustainable design coexisting with urban life. The Cool Hunter, a fun and hot culture/design website, says “Tree Life” will debut in a to-be-announced major city in 2010.
For the event, top international architects, artists, and designers are creating modern treehouses made from sustainable and recycled materials.
Photo via: The Cool Hunter
According to The Cool Hunter, “Treehouses have become creative eco-statements in the design world. They allow people to literally be ‘in’ nature and peace above the stressful street level of life.”
We’re on the lookout for further treehouse details. I can’t wait. Maybe I can climb up into one and sort my baseball cards on solid, recycled flooring.
Design, What's Up
March 3, 2010
By Bill Holm
Photo via: Flickr: KleineFenn
Travel + Leisure magazine handed out its 2010 Design Awards in the March issue. And whadya know, the Best Restaurant design is Nomiya in Paris—furnished with 12 Eames molded plastic side chairs. Only 12 because that’s the seating capacity. Reservations are a must for the communal-style dinner.
Photo via: Flickr: KleineFenn
Designed by Laurent and Pascal Grasso, Nomiya is a concept restaurant—to put it mildly. The dining room is a glass-paneled structure installed last year on top of the Palais de Tokyo museum (Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris).
Nomiya is modeled after tiny Japanese restaurant/bars called izakayas, and the design suggests the inside of a glass box. The classic Eames chair, with its clean, sculpted form, is perfect for this work of modern art. And did you know the chair’s wire base was originally called the “Eiffel Tower” base?
Photo via: Nomiya Restaurant
Dinner is about 80 Euros. Not bad for such an incredible view and wonderful food.
Sounds great. But hurry. Nomiya is more than a restaurant. It’s also a museum installation, scheduled to be taken down July 1, 2010. That intrigued the Travel + Leisure judges, who call Nomiya “a meditation on permanence, transcience, and style.”
Before Nomiya, the Hotel Everland, a one-room traveling luxury suite, occupied the rooftop exhibition space. It went for 444 Euros a night, double occupancy, weekend rate. Sadly, it was Everland’s last stop before retirement.
Photo via: Hotel Everland
Herman Miller Journal, What's Up
February 24, 2010
By Marcia Davis
Fast Company has once again put together its 2010 list of Most Innovative Companies—an assessment of innovative practices throughout the business world spanning creative models to real-world impact and far-sighted risk taking.
Of more than 250 companies, Herman Miller has been recognized not only as one of its Most Innovative Companies, but also as one of its “Innovation All-Stars”—a group of 59 global companies that “fought a dour economy with renewed creativity and bold initiatives.” We’re the only Michigan-based company to appear on the All-Star list and the only representative from the contract furniture industry.
Fast Company cited several of our award-winning products as examples of innovation: the Embody chair, the Setu chair, the Twist LED task light, and Teneo storage furniture system.
What's Up
February 22, 2010
By Bill Holm
Still have that old Instamatic shot of you playing badminton while wearing madras Bermuda shorts and a tie-dyed t-shirt? (I do.) Besides being embarrassing, it actually fits into a category of photography called vernacular—ordinary, everyday pictures like family snapshots, candids, and vacation photos, as well as IDs, crime-scene photos, photo-booth strips, Facebook images—just about anything, really.
Vernacular photography is considered the opposite of art, but the shots can have surprising depth and cultural value. They are often unintentionally revealing, strange, funny, or heartbreaking—or all that at once. Some think of vernacular photos as folk art. And it has become a genre for fine-art photographers who use vernacular forms as a means of expression, blurring the line between art and “real life.”
The results are often stunning—such as those featured in a current exhibition at The Art Institute of Chicago. It’s showing more than 100 amazing images from its collection of fine-art vernacular photographs in a exhibition entitled “In the Vernacular,” running Feb. 6-May 31. Featured artists include greats like Walker Evans, Cindy Sherman, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Gary Winogrand, Andy Warhol, Lee Friedlander, Martin Parr, Nikki S. Lee, and others.
Photo credits: (Top) Garry Winogrand. Cape Kennedy, Florida, (Apollo 11 Moon Shot), 1969. Gift of Elizabeth and Frederick Myers. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco. (Bottom) Martin Parr. Fashion Magazine: Fashion Shoot, New York, 1999. David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg Arts Foundation Purchase Fund.
What's Up
February 17, 2010
By Bill Holm
How long will it take to catch an elevator this year at the Merchandise Mart? All bets are off, as the Buildex® Chicago trade show piggybacks on NeoCon 2010, June 14-16, for the first time.
“Buildex will offer the products, services, and technologies that will help upgrade and improve operations of all types of properties,” says Mark Falanga, senior VP at MMPI, which operates the Mart.
Announced Feb 11, the show will feature 150 exhibitors and 80 seminars geared toward building owners, property and facility managers, developers, and others. Visitors will see the latest innovations and learn strategies to enhance value, optimize building performance, implement greener and more energy efficient options, and deal with regulations.
With lighting gaining prominence as a critical design element, one Buildex highlight will be “ArchLed: LED Lighting for the Built Environment.” It’s billed as an LED summit and event showcasing solid-state lighting technology and integration.
Design, What's Up
February 12, 2010
By Kate Convissor
Learning happens in all kinds of places. That’s the opinion of participants at a recent gathering of the Learning Spaces Special Interest Group hosted by the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Through Design (CETLD). The CETLD is a partnership of highly pedigreed universities and museums, as well as the Royal Institute of British Architects, that aims to explore how design impacts and enhances learning.
The examples of good learning spaces submitted by the seminar’s participants held some surprises: a garden in Devon; Britain’s National Art Library; and…Herman Miller’s National Design Centre in London, which students described as a “multi-functional modular open space…flexible, adaptable, ‘aspirational,’ interesting use of partitions.”
Herman Miller, of course, has researched how design affects learning for years and has contributed to a roster of educational environments that push the design-and-learning envelop. The Crosland Library at Georgia Tech, for example, or Columbia College in Chicago.
The CETLD might also like Herman Miller’s Los Angeles showroom, for that matter.
Herman Miller Journal, What's Up
February 2, 2010
By Susan Koole
FORTUNE magazine recently published its 13th annual listing of “100 Best Companies to Work For.” Several recognizable brands made the list, including SAS, Whole Foods Market, Google, FedEx, and Herman Miller. These brands represent a variety of industries, so what do they all have in common?
According to FORTUNE and the Great Place to Work® Institute, a global research and consulting firm, the listings are a result of a survey that solicits information from organizations and their employees about credibility of management, job satisfaction, camaraderie, recruiting, and employee services.
But this year’s list also considers the ways companies are helping their employees weather the recession. Although this past year wasn’t an easy one for Herman Miller, we reinforced our commitment to our employees by developing supportive programs and initiatives. These programs and initiatives are highlighted in three categories–Balancing, Including, and Celebrating–included on the Great Place to Work Institute Culture Audit©, which is used in part to establish the overall FORTUNE rankings.
Read more
What's Up
January 25, 2010
By Marcia Davis
“Where do you learn best?”
That’s the question Herman Miller is asking full-time students attending 2-or 4-year U.S. colleges or universities for our first video contest offered exclusively to them. We’re encouraging them to document the places–on or off campus–that best support their learning.
Since learning can take place anywhere, we’re hoping to see a variety of entries that are creative, fun or serious—all from the perspective of students. The results will help promote discussion among higher education professionals about the rapidly changing needs of students and how higher education facilities can respond to those needs.
To get their attention, Herman Miller partnered with senior graphic design students at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to develop graphics for the contest website and its Facebook event page. Barbara Loveland, Interim Director of the Gwen Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan, led the group of students who worked on the contest graphics and believes that it makes sense that students design for students. “This experience also allows students to learn something fun and build their portfolio, which will be helpful to them in the real world,” she adds.
Want to learn more? Check out “Hey, Where Do You Learn Best?” and you’ll find everything you need to know.