Rick Edwards’ Models of Good Design

I climbed a narrow flight of stairs to the third floor of a cool old building in downtown Holland, Michigan, to visit Rick Edwards Design and see what the proprietor was up to for his latest project with Herman Miller. Rick has worked with Herman Miller for many years, and they had reached out to him to help develop new applications for Meridian filing and storage.

Specifically, the challenge was to reconfigure existing Meridian elements to support and even inspire group work. Filing and storage is traditionally configured and placed for individual use or archival storage purposes, so Rick had to think outside the file to design solutions.

The results are evident when you walk in Rick’s door. On a Resolve input table, he displays his scale models of new Meridian Group Furniture applications. “People are intrigued by models,” he says. “They interact with them, they’re accessible, and it’s a starting point for creative conversations. We’ve had great discussions and input.”

It’s a tribute to Meridian’s versatility that its modules can be reconfigured to create and define areas where people gather, share, and connect. Plus, there are applications that can accommodate power and data for people’s technology and equipment.

“We want people to be attracted to these places,” Rick says, “so they naturally come together and collaborate.” And with Rick’s models to illustrate, it’s easy to see how Meridian does it.

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