Exploring Herman Miller’s Color Practice
Dwell magazine’s three-part video series called “The Full Spectrum” recently concluded with a view inside our West Michigan facilities. The program also features an interview with creative consultant Susan Lyons about color and its role in our designs.
Lyons and senior editor Aaron Britt discuss our range of color choices and the influences on them, including an early belief that materials should speak for themselves.
Honest beauty is another influence. Lyons cited the Eames molded plywood chairs and the H-Alloy base of the Setu chairs as examples of materials that don’t require any embellishment.
As Lyons explains, “We don’t have a color theory so much as we have a color practice. And we practice and practice and practice until we get there.”
Our thanks to Amanda Dameron, digital content editor at Dwell, for giving us permission to include this video on Discover.
It’s funny – plywood isn’t usually a material that you would think of as being so beautiful that it can stand alone. After clicking through to see the Eames chair, I have to agree that it’s a nice piece. The simplicity of the unfinished look highlights the actual design and structure of the piece. There’s a very WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) feel to the chair that makes it seem honest and practical.
Daisy McCarty
http://www.sandiegocubicles.com/blog/