As Jordan Pierce of the Yale Daily News recently noted, “Nelson stands apart for his wit, lucidity and ability to incorporate a thoughtful, human perspective.” True of Nelson’s writing, as well as his design work. “Nelson tore the numbers from clocks,” explains Peirce, “he put clutter in ‘storage walls’ and turned workplaces into ‘Action Offices.’” By doing so, Nelson earned his position as a founder of American Modernism.

For an opportunity to see Nelson’s writings, alongside his other works, be sure to visit George Nelson: Architect | Writer | Designer | Teacher, a traveling exhibition currently showing at the Yale School of Architecture gallery.

Not in the New Haven area? The new George Nelson Foundation website is another great resource. Check it out here.

Their concept for the multi-functional wall was presented in the 1945 Life article, “Storage Wall”—the first in a series of articles on the unique design challenges of what would soon be the postwar American home. Life built it’s own version of the Storagewall, and installed it in a New Jersey home. The article documented the many ways Storagewall could be used to provide structure, space delineation, and storage for any room—a clever solution for a culture enamored of the ephemera of the home.

It’s a solution that’s also timeless. The Storagewall concept could easily apply to current design challenges, like the increasing overlap between our work and personal lives. And the influence of Storagewall on contemporary storage designs is clear. Consider Herman Miller’s Meridian Storage, designed to offer more than just a place to keep files, paperclips, and rubber bands. The modular pieces function as seating, collaboration spaces, and power sources—a versatility reminiscent of Nelson and Wright’s pioneering design.

You can see Storagewall and other Nelson designs on display at the Yale School of Architecture Gallery until January 26, 2013, in an exhibit titled “George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher.”

This fact becomes even more apparent when you reflect back on his long and distinguished career. A long-time member of George Nelson’s design office, Harper is widely acknowledged as the creator of some of the 20th century’s most iconic designs: the Marshmallow Sofa, the Ball Clock, and (something very close to our heart) the Herman Miller logo, among many well-known designs.

Much in same way he transforms paper into art, Irving Harper has always had a knack for turning humble materials and seemingly simple ideas into something special.

In Irving Harper’s hands, you can imagine any material to be versatile.

See more of Irving Harper’s paper sculptures at 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. Next week is designer Gianfranco Zaccai.

Can’t make it to Cranbrook? The next stop will be the Nelson’s alma mater, the Yale School of Architecture.

In 1984, George Nelson sat down and reflected on his time at Herman Miller. The resulting essay is insightful, honest, and full of stories told with keen recollection. We decided to share the essay with FastCompany, which began publishing it as a series beginning this week. Check it out and let us know what you think.

George Nelson, designer and Design Director for Herman Miller from 1946 to 1972, has written that “every design in some sense is a social communication.” So what is design saying? Nelson spent a good deal of his life answering that question, along the way skewering those “social communications” that weren’t worth listening to.

Nelson’s writings on design predated a phenomenon Steven Heller notes: art schools teaching writing. That’s no surprise, says Alice Twemlow, who with Heller co-founded the MFA Design Criticism program at the School of Visual Arts. Design is all around us, so it’s important that there be insightful writing on the subject.

Few have been as insightful as Ralph Caplan, another friend of ours and recent recipient of the AIGA Medal for contribution to writing about design. When he wrote that it is “a process for making things right,” he could have been describing Herman Miller’s approach. Solving a problem that people really care about in a way that improves on other solutions is the way another pretty good writer, Clark Malcolm, put it.

So if solving problems by design is so important, why bother writing about it? The world has plenty of intransigent problems that could benefit from design thinking. For the answer, we give Caplan the last word: “Thinking about design is hard, but not thinking about it can be disastrous.”

George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher, is a traveling exhibit exploring many facets of Nelson’s peculiar brand of genius, from furniture designs to urban planning to essays and criticism.

As Herman Miller Design Director from 1946-1972, Nelson believed a problem should never been viewed in isolation from the context in which it exists—the most important being people. He observed this to be “an approach that is more likely to create trends than follow them.” Nelson was right, and his philosophy drew the Eameses, Isamu Noguchi, and Alexander Girard to Herman Miller.

The exhibit runs until October at the Cranbrook Museum of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and marks one of just five stops in the U.S. for the extensive collection of artifacts and Nelson furniture.

Every year, late in the month of May, we celebrate the birthdays of George Nelson and Alexander Girard. Director of design and director of textiles, respectively, these two men established design as central to all aspects of the company. In many instances their works were the face of Herman Miller to the world. We owe them much.

Back in 1948, Herman Miller was in need of a new catalog to show off its pioneering modern designs by George Nelson and Charles and Ray Eames. Rising to the challenge, Nelson proposed a sophisticated catalog printed on high quality paper and full of beautiful photography. The problem? As DJ De Pree, founder of Herman Miller, made clear, the company could never afford to produce it.

Never deterred, Nelson redesigned the catalog. This time with an expensive hardcover and a color printed dust jacket—and a three-dollar price tag. Nelson, not wanting to compromise on quality, felt customers would pay for a catalog that demonstrated the same thoughtfulness evident in other Herman Miller designs. DJ had never heard of anyone doing this, but, in his wonderful way, he let Nelson go ahead with the idea.

The 1948 Herman Miller catalog proved to be a hit. Reprinted repeatedly over the following years, the price eventually became five dollars. Today, it is highly sought after by collectors of modern design.

Check out a slide show of the 1948 catalog here.

Nelson platform bench at the Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University

In a world where design is often an exclamation mark, sometimes, good design is one that complements without calling undue attention to itself. Much like the perfect t-shirt or little black dress that round out one’s wardrobe, a thoughtful interior needs a few basic pieces that do not dominate.

The platform bench, designed by George Nelson in 1945, is one such piece. A stable of museum galleries around the world, and often found at the foot of the bed, the bench has been a durable icon for its ability to play a supporting role. Composed of solid maple slats, it reflects Nelson’s insistence on honest design—making a visual statement that defines an object’s purpose.

The meaning of Magis—”more than”—captures the Italian company’s approach to design and manufacturing. “We add to Herman Miller because we are complementare, complementary,” explains Alberto Perazza, Co-Managing Director of Magis. “Even a world apart, we do the business of design in similar ways. Both companies have many and continuing collaborations with the greatest world designers.”

Much like Herman Miller, Magis employs innovative processes that maximize performance, while minimizing volume of material, energy use, and environmental impact.

The names of Grcic, Morrison, and Fukasawa join the ranks of Eames, Nelson, and Stumpf, as Herman Miller is now the exclusive distributor of Magis products in the U.S. and Canada.

Learn more about Magis designers.

Check out the HermanMiller Store for more details.

Recently, PBS Arts, in an episode of its Off Book, took a look at product design and what it means to three practitioners. For Yves Béhar of fuseproject, the San Francisco-based design and branding company and designer of our SAYL chair, “what design does, at its best, is to accelerate the adoption of new ideas.” Harvey Moscot, a fourth generation owner of a classic eyewear brand, and Peter Schmitt, an MIT researcher looking to revolutionize the product experience through 3D printing, offer two other perspectives.

It’s certainly the case that the role of design is much in the spotlight lately. It can make the difference, some say. It can change the world, claim others. For us, design is something we get—according to FastCompany. It’s how we solve problems. It’s not just an approach to products, though, it has also become, as George Nelson said in 1948, “a central part of our business.”

Thanks to Rusty Blazenhoff of Laughing Squid for bringing this video to our attention.

George Nelson said, “The aim of the design process is always to produce an object that does something,” and what the umbrella does is protect.

People have been shielding themselves from sun and rain for centuries underneath the umbrella’s curved contour⎯an ingenious design with multiple applications, including Nelson’s fiberglass parasols at the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow.

As exhibition design director, Nelson’s structure covered exhibits, including Edward Steichen’s “Family of Man” photography collection. Charles and Ray Eames also took part, displaying their film “Glimpses of the USA” on multiple screens showing basic aspects of American life. Additionally, Herman Miller Modern Classics⎯before they were classics⎯showcased as leading innovations in American home furnishings.

Fifty years later, the umbrella’s shape made its way inside, providing shade for computer screens. Designer, Ayse Birsel, compares her Resolve canopy to “a parasol on a beach.” And her umbrella does more than block overhead glare, “It defines your territory and augments your sense of space.”

Resolve creates open, inviting, space-efficient workstations where people feel comfortable and connected. When underneath the umbrella-like Resolve canopy, there’s “a very tangible sense of one’s own space without the use of walls,” as Birsel put it.

The Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Photo: Eliel Saarinen

Sunny California is often considered the center of modern design and architecture, but could the heart of mid-century modernity be found along the shores of Michigan?

Alexander Girard, Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Gilbert Rohde—all pioneers of mid-century design and beloved by Herman Miller—lived, learned, and worked in the state. They are only the tip of the designer iceberg. Noteworthy architects who left structural legacies on Michigan soil including Frank Lloyd Wright and Eero and Eliel Saarinen.

Why Michigan? Many reasons, and certainly it was West Michigan’s furniture industry, the opportunity to study at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, exhibits hosted by the Detroit Institute of Art in the heart of the Motor City, and the numerous patrons who supported a new vision for the world.

To learn more, visit Michigan Modern, a project working to raise awareness of the state’s design legacy and share examples of the state’s ongoing leadership in modern design.

Inspiration is all around and some of us, like designer George Nelson, are bestowed with the talent to turn it into something real.

The 2011 limited-edition Select tray table features a veneer inlay patterned on one such inspiration. Nelson’s 1962 Flock of Butterflies clock transformed bent, polished aluminum into a simple design that evokes butterflies in flight.

Here is George Nelson explaining, in his own words, how a night of fun inspired another icon of mid-century design, the ball clock.

“George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher”, a traveling exhibit on the life and work of George Nelson, Herman Miller director of design from 1946 to 1972, is now at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas.

Ever the provocateur, Nelson challenged the way we live and tirelessly commuicated his vision. Under his guidance Herman Miller embraced and defined modern design, creating furniture and accessories that resonated with changing lifestyles of the late 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s—many of which  are still produced by us today.

The exhibit is a great opportunity to not only see some of Nelson’s iconic design work, but also to learn more about the influential, multi-talented man who  helped us see our future. 

If you have visited the exhibit in San Antonio or elsewhere, please share you thoughts with us.

Nelson took his role of provocateur very seriously and spent his long career asking, challenging, and commenting on design, architectural, business and society at large. He could be cantankerous and opinionated, but he was also brilliant. Much of his writing, and design work feels as contemporary today as it did the day it was created.

Herman Miller owes much to Nelson, whose birthday is May 29. Under his guidance the company pioneered modern design, discovered Charles and Ray Eames, and conceived the first office system. But most of all, Herman Miller owes George Nelson for instilling the company with his design philosophy, the belief that good design is honest, an integral part of business, and that a market exists for it –a philosophy that lives on today.

One would hope that George would feel a sense of satisfaction in products like Aeron, Setu, SAYL, and Compass; proud that the seeds he sowed are still growing today.

If you’re in the San Antonio, Texas area, the McNay museum will be exhibiting George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher beginning June 8.

Photo: “Junkyard” observations from “George Nelson: The Deisgn of Modern Design“

Nelson first traveled to Tokyo in 1951, and became enamored of the city. He was fascinated by the care he observed in the design of all things. Even the most ordinary items received an attention that he found fascinating, as did the noted Japanese graphic designer Hikeyuki Oka. Nelson added a foreword to Oka’s book How to Wrap Five Eggs, a mid-60s classic of Japanese design.

Writing in the foreword, Nelson said that “what we have lost for sure is what this book is all about: a once-common sense of fitness in the relationships between hand, material, use and shape, and above all, a sense of delight in the look and feel of very ordinary, humble things.”

A sense of delight continues to energize us, as does a real connection to Japan. Fast forward 60 years after Nelson’s first trip there, and you’ll find our latest touchpoint: the Herman Miller store in Tokyo. Opened in January of this year, the store makes great design available to consumers, from chairs and desks to games and toys.

Photo 1 Copyright Jacqueline Nelson
Photo 2 Weatherhill Publishing

Help Us Act
As with everyone in Japan and the world, we are preoccupied with helping the country rebuild after the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit the Sendai area. The disaster has prompted us, and our employees, to make donations to the relief efforts. Find out more about what we’re doing and how you can help make a difference. Thank you.

“Design is a response to social change.” –George Nelson

Certainly, a lot of social change has taken place since George Nelson, Herman Miller’s revolutionary lead designer in the 40s and 50s, said those words. The way offices function and the way people work has changed dramatically.

So, what might contemporary artists and designers have to say about design and social change? I quizzed a student and a professor at the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) about their response to George Nelson’s statement and about the relationship between art and design in general. Here’s what they had to say:

Theo Bunch, a senior at KCAI, said that, while design can be a response to social change, it’s also a response to life. “Design is part of life. We’re always changing,” he said. “Design, like art, represents human expression and creative thought. It’s planned, intelligent, creative thinking. Design is applied art, like physics is applied math.

According to Pauline Verbeek-Cowart, associate professor and chair of the Fiber Department, “Artists and designers have always responded to the world around them, this action is often a reaction to the status quo, to the current culture. What happens in the world of art and design is a response to societal norms, and social change can be the outcome.

So, there you have it, a contemporary reflection on a past visionary. Let the discussion continue…

Nelson is a big part of Herman Miller’s history. He was director of design here from 1946–1971 and he designed many iconic pieces, including the coconut chair, the marshmallow sofa, and the platform bench. And we think his design philosophy—“total design is nothing more or less than a process of relating everything to everything”—is more relevant than ever.

If you’re in New York, you can see works by the new inductees free of charge at the ADC Gallery until November 23, 2010.

Nelson’s work is also part of the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection.

Designer George Nelson believed properly designed modern furniture should be able to function anywhere. It’s a belief that influenced his modular storage solution called the Basic Cabinet Series, which was available from Herman Miller from 1946 until 1958.

We believe the Basic Cabinet Series is just as useful today as it was more than 60 years ago. That’s why we choose to bring it back.

Nelson, who said, “Design is a response to social change,” recognized the postwar period in the 1940s was bustling with change. He understood that Americans had become mobile and that they needed furniture to support the new American life style.

He went on to create the Basic Cabinet Series, which includes modular, easily movable furniture pieces that serve more than one purpose. The pieces save space, while providing lots of efficient storage.

The four chest-cabinet combinations adapt to a variety of configurations and rooms, including those for living, dining, sleeping, or working. And they look great together with the Nelson platform bench. Most of all, they’re beautiful and efficient, which makes for a good combination—then and now.