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.

The secret? Continual improvement. Using a process we call the Herman Miller Performance System, or HMPS, we compound small, incremental improvements into big change. Rearranging a bin of parts to be six inches closer may only save a half second, but when combined with hundreds of other refinements, the results add up. In fact, they add up to more than 260 seconds—or 4 minutes and 20 seconds—of time saved to make an Aeron chair.

Applying the same problem-solving knowhow to the production of our products as we do their design, Herman Miller remains at the cutting-edge. And while the competition is busy exporting manufacturing jobs, we can proudly say our products are made in the United States.

Checkout this video FastCompany made while visiting us a few weeks ago.

Where he’s all about moving on the set, Billy Wilder, a director from an earlier generation who did films such as Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It Hot, opted for catnaps on set. In 1955, while filming The Spirit of St. Louis, he started taking naps on a narrow plank held up by sawhorses. Wilder later told his friends Charles and Ray Eames he needed something similar—but a bit more comfortable—for his office.

They came up with a slender, armless chaise with a built-in wakeup call. It required Wilder to lie on his back with his arms folded over his chest. Once he dozed off, his arms relaxed, dropped to his side, and gently awakened him. We began making the chaise in 1968, and it’s been in the line ever since.

We’ve added other pieces in the ensuing years. And Sonnenfeld puts three of them through their paces in his search for the right furniture for working in the editing room: the Embody and Aeron chairs and the Envelop desk. Get his read on them, and then check them out for yourself.

Photo: Barry Sonnenfeld is an Emmy-winning television director and the director of Get Shorty and the upcoming Men in Black 3.

It’s one thing to talk about solving problems; it’s another to make it a tenet of good design. That’s what we strive to do, and Fast Company recently placed us on its list of Thirty Companies That Get It for creating, “furniture that inspires—and solves problems.”

Charles Eames once said, “The extent to which you have a design style is the extent to which you have not solved the problem.” George Nelson was a problem solver, as was Robert Propst and as are Ayse Birsel and Studio 7.5. In fact, solving problems with good design is a prerequisite for Herman Miller.

Consider Aeron, designed by Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick. Radical when it launched, its transparent style has inspired numerous copies. But foam and fabric wasn’t replaced with Pellicle because it looked good. Research showed that the suspension material allowed air to reach the body, preventing heat and moisture from building up—keeping the sitter comfortable much longer.

Solving a problem in an original way provided Aeron its distinctive look as well.

Aeron Hockey takes traditional office hockey—played with a paper puck and makeshift sticks—to the next level by adding real sticks, protective gear, and even its own court. This version has rules and pits two five-person teams against one another as they vie to score as many goals as possible during two 10-minute halves.

Held as part of REACH, a Herman Miller exhibit being held in Asia this September, the 2011 Aeron Hockey World Championships will host 10 teams from across the Pan-Asia Pacific region, including New Zealand, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, and Australia. The teams will face off in an all day tourney, culminating in the crowning of the first ever Pan-Asia Pacific Champions.

Check out this slide show to get a better idea of the level of competition. And Lifework has a video of Aeron Hockey in action.

One student looked at Alexander Girard fabrics and designed a coffee table from wood pieces formed to reflect one of his patterns. One design includes collapsed fabric and raises to become the Eames molded plywood chair.

Take inspiration from everything is the creative person’s mantra. And we love it when creatives take it from us.

Photo 1: Chris Reinstad, Aeron Chair Organic Oak, 2010
Photo 2: Emily Rich, Perception, 2010
Photo 3: Heather McCalla, LCF (Lounge Chair Fabric), 2010

And if you’ve seen another product that’s not on the list, please post that on our Facebook page as well.

We’re looking forward to your participation!

Morrell said he was first inspired to pursue the idea after visiting a physical therapist due to pain from sitting at a computer for long periods of time. He said he was constantly forgetting his therapist’s instructions, which led him and Zheng to evaluate the use of touch to remind people to sit upright with their spines in a neutral position, as recommended by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

In addition to the chair, Morrell’s laboratory is developing a robot that can open doors for the disabled or in dangerous situations.

Photo credit: Brianne Bowen/Yale Daily News

Photo via: Harmon Enterprises

Curated by German product designer Konstantin Grcic of Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design (KGID), Design Real focuses on “real” items conceived in the last decade: mass-produced products that have a practical function in everyday life—from furniture and household products to technical and industrial innovations. For example, click on “Office Chair” and you’ll see Herman Miller’s Aeron chair.

According to Grcic, what interests him about industrial design is “how these things are made, in what material, and how this has affected their language and their quality. Some objects are very technically-driven; the function really determines the object. Other objects have much more of a signature or an authorship; you see the handwriting of the designer who made it and that’s what makes it so special.”

The award selection committee includes some of West Michigan’s strongest sustainability advocates: Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell; Marylu Dykstra, president of the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum; Deb Steketee, executive director of Aquinas College’s Center for Sustainability; and Kelley Losey of Cascade Engineering/Quest.

Winners and nominees are being announced in the publication’s September 3, 2009, edition. Green Award winners will be honored as part of ActiveSite’s ArtPrize entry on September 24, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at 40 Monroe Center in Grand Rapids.

By Marcia Davis

Watch TV for a night and you’ll see the Aeron chair making an appearance somewhere—from TV shows to commercials. And, if you’re a movie fan, you’ll see it in the cinema, too.

Last month, Boxwish (a blog about movies) highlighted Aeron’s role in “The Ugly Truth,” a romantic comedy about romantically challenged morning show producer Abby Richter (Katherine Heigl) whose search for Mr. Perfect has left her hopelessly single. When hardcore TV personality Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) comes on the scene, he reveals the ugly truth on what makes men and women tick.

Although Boxwish claims Abby is a fastidious control freak, she has good taste—right down to her office seating: an Aeron chair, the Gadget of the Week.

By Marcia Davis

Don Goeman, Senior VP of Design and Development, (shown in the photograph at left) says, “Bill had a huge impact on the company, its people, and our future.” Connie Garman, Corporate Workplace Strategist, (middle), oversaw the installation project. “We wanted to place this so that everyone could walk up and read Bill’s wonderful language—it’s really a way of having a conversation with customers about Bill’s design ideas.” Clark Malcolm (right), Writer and Editor, worked with Stumpf on many projects and was part of a team of employees who helped create the sculpture to honor one of Herman Miller’s most famous designers.

“Bill Stumpf was a genuine gift to the spirit,” recalls Clark. “His humor, his optimism, his deep concern for the human condition, his language, his childlike inquisitiveness, his impish delight in jokes and jazz, and the genius of his insights are all qualities that made him a first-rate designer and a fine human being.”

Here’s what this unassuming legend says about design:

Stumpf had become connected to Herman Miller when Bob Propst, inventor of Herman Miller’s innovative Action Office system and president of Herman Miller Research Corporation, visited a class he was teaching at the University of Wisconsin. Propst was impressed by the research Stumpf required of his students and by his sketches for a new kind of chair. Stumpf worked briefly for Propst and Herman Miller before setting up his own office. The connection to Herman Miller remained a central part of Stumpf’s life for the next 30 years. After Propst, Stumpf’s impact on the company was larger, in financial terms, than any other in the long list of famous designers to work with the company.

Born in St. Louis, Stumpf moved up river to Winona, Minnesota, as a teenager. He was Midwestern through and through, skeptical of the bi-coastal world of design that he moved in professionally. He loved the Minnesota Twins, Garrison Keillor, his family, his golden retrievers, and the fact that the titanium in his hip and his driver improved his performance walking and hitting a golf ball. In spite of his fame, he never lost his humility.

By Marcia Davis and Clark Malcolm

You might have also heard about our continuous improvement system called the Herman Miller Performance System (HMPS), which we implement in our operations, distribution, and installation processes to accommodate the needs of our customers.

But it’s likely you haven’t heard of Agustin Coronado, who works in our seating operations, unless you work at Herman Miller or live in West Michigan. While Agustin’s job title labels him a facilitator for one of our chair assembly lines, he’s really a designer at the core. A designer who thinks of people first.

“Everyone has something that moves them,” says Agustin. “For me, it’s people. I want to build and create something to make their work easier. And I have the capability to build. That’s what I like to do.”

How did an operations employee since 1994 become an inventor? HMPS set the stage, and some background in electronics and woodworking helped.

Because HMPS creates the opportunity for our employees to influence their workspace, they can suggest ways to solve problems. Agustin worked on our Aeron chair line, where chair bases arriving on carts for assembly resulted in operators walking 12-14 feet and double-handling parts. The challenge? How to save their time and effort. The result? Agustin’s innovative gravity-fed conveyor, which allowed operators to reach for the base in the same place every time.

But the design process didn’t happen overnight. Agustin says he began with an idea in his head, made a simple drawing, and created prototypes. Like many designers, Agustin observed, “You don’t succeed every time. You just build it and you improve. And you can’t be afraid to fail. You get tired today, but tomorrow is a fresh start.”

Essential to the development of new ideas are the materials Herman Miller provides in our operations facilities—such as recyclable items—to experiment with. Overall, the base rack conveyor project took about three months and just over $1000 to make. And walk time for operators dropped from about eight seconds to one second.

Agustin is naturally innovative. “I try to make things easier no matter what I’m doing,” he claims. “It’s like a habit. What I envision, I’m able to put together.” He helps implement other people’s ideas, too. Workers on the line tell him their idea and he draws a picture of it, then goes back to confirm with them, and reworks if necessary. Then he creates mock-ups in house and finds suppliers who have the resources to build prototypes or products.

Since the Aeron project that got him started, he has come up with 50-60 “presentations” (the way parts are presented/accessed in the assembly process) and has collaborated with others on many more.

Agustin is creative at home, too—from electrical work to remodeling to plumbing, even building a greenhouse. “I do things a lot better at home because of what I learned at Herman Miller. I think about things before I make them.”

Because people are a major component of HMPS, it opens the door for creativity where you might not look for it. It has opened the door for Agustin to use his talents at work. “Sometimes we just need opportunity,” he says.

By Marcia Davis