Stockings Galore at the Design Yard

The lords are leaping and the maids are milking, but who’s been making all these stockings?

For the fifth year, holiday stockings hung along the corridors of the Herman Miller Design Yard and multiplied into the hundreds. And they’re not cookie-cutter stockings either—each are one-of-a-kind and handmade out of our textile leftovers. In fact, every once in a while, passersby try buying one for themselves to hang over their fireplace.

However, these stockings were not for sale, but rather made for a greater cause. In the season of giving, Herman Miller employees volunteered their lunch hours for sewing and decorating a total of 477 stockings. All those carefully crafted stockings were distributed to these handpicked charities: Holland Rescue Mission, Urban Family Ministries, Love INC, and St. Jude’s Ranch for Children. These organizations work directly with the families who took the stockings filled with goodies home for the holidays.

Sit a Spell and Chat in the Parlor

First impressions. They count. And at Herman Miller’s Design Yard in Holland, MI, you can count on a good one when you walk in the front door: A friendly and helpful concierge, lots to catch your eye and grab your interest, great aromas from the coffee bar, and comfortable furniture.

If you’re part of a customer tour of the Design Yard, it’s likely your first stop will be the Parlor, just a few steps from the front door. It’s a great room to relax in, unwind, and have a conversation with Herman Miller folks about your company, your needs, and what’s important to you.

“The Parlor sets the tone,” says Robert Hieftje, Herman Miller’s Customer Experience Senior Manager. “It’s a place of discovery a time of learning for us. After we talk and get to know each other, we’re able to personalize the rest of the customer’s experience at the Design Yard so it’s of most value to them.”

Furnished with a carefully selected mix of Herman Miller furniture, the room looks and feels like home.  A wall of bookshelves holds not only books, but also artifacts from Herman Miller’s legacy: photos of the companies legendary designers like Nelson, Rhode, Girard, Stumpf, and the Eameses; examples of Herman Miller innovation; and a treasure trove of fun conversation pieces.

For example, there’s a beautiful wooden envelope from the Hall family of Hallmark Cards fame, given in recognition of Herman Miller’s and Hallmark’s 40-plus years of working together.

“This means so much to us,” says Robert, “because it represents the kind of strong, long-term relationships we strive for with every customer.”

Architecture for Walking

One of the great design features at our Design Yard facility in Holland, Michigan, is a walkway that extends from one end of the building to the other. Lined with windows and without doors to negotiate, the walkway is a great space to meet people, exhibit art and creative projects, look outside, and exercise.

This last option fits in with our Health Management Program, which includes bicycle commuting, fitness programs, and flu shots. Why just the other day, as I was walking to lunch, I was nearly run over by the group in this picture. As I rounded a corner, they came barreling along, talking away, and intent on doing their noon-time walk. We all smiled, said hello, and I thought, “That’s one of the things I like about this place—work is part of life, and not the other way round.”

How Gardens Are Like Healthy Companies

Not everyone gets to step out from their workplace and pinch off some fresh dill to top their leftover salmon at lunchtime. Or bring tomatoes home from work for dinner. Unless you work at our Design Yard facility in Holland, Michigan, where a group of employees have nurtured a garden full of veggies, herbs, and perennials for all employees to enjoy.
Read more

In Honor of Bill Stumpf

Bill Stumpf, designer of the Equa (with Don Chadwick), Aeron (with Don Chadwick) and Embody (with Jeff Weber) chairs, Ethospace (with Jack Kelley), and corporate friend to Herman Miller for over 30 years, would be happy with the sculpture recently installed in his honor at Herman Miller’s Design Yard facility.
Read more

Down on the Farm

How do you build so you blend in with a field? And why bother? Because when you take stewardship seriously, you don’t build an office building in the country without grappling with what it will do to the land.
Read more