What will the future look like? To answer that question, we worked with students from two U.S. design schools, Cranbrook Academy of Art and the Pratt Institute, to help them realize their vision. The results were on display this week at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York—and even won an award.

Each school worked within a theme. Cranbrook students contemplated the challenges of the modern office, imagining a work culture in which living and working blend even more deeply than they do today. The students at Pratt sought to create designs that balance body and mind in ways that potentially increase health benefits and elevate mood and productivity while providing a greater degree of personal satisfaction from the user experience.

The students collaborated closely with Herman Miller. As Gary Smith, our Director of Design Facilitation & Exploration, noted, “The process helped the students understand the complex set of voices beyond the designer’s own, which are necessary to achieve commercial success.”

The resulting designs offer a look at the future from the people who will be creating it.

Charles Eames famously said it’s the details that make the product. In this case, it was the Herman Miller booth at ICFF. It was an ingenious homage to the J. Irwin Miller House in Columbus, Indiana.

Booth designers Craig Bassam and Scott Fellows added two “walls” to suggest structure. Covering the booth with a fabric scrim supported by white beams softened the harsh lights of the exhibition hall while hinting at the home’s skylights. An interior wall of silk screened with bright, angular shapes abstracted the home’s storage wall. High-gloss flooring and a bed of live ground cover recalled the travertine floor and extended roof lines of the home.

 In these areas, where the distinction between indoor and outdoor became blurred, Eames Aluminum Group chairs were on display. The Millers were among the first to embrace these chairs for their terraces. With new fabrics and finishes designed for the outdoors, the chairs have returned to their original intent and took an award for it. These were nestled around an Eames table with a new stone top, the effect striking and wonderfully textural.

We’ve been busy this weekend at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York City. This year’s booth was inspired by the Miller House and designed by BassamFellows (check out Lifework for more on these two very soon). It’s a clear and beautiful design statement that showcases our pieces perfectly, including the new Eames Aluminum Group Chairs (which won Best Outdoor Furniture category in the Editor’s Choice Awards).

Tomorrow the show opens to the public, so stop by for a visit, check out the booth, and tryout one of the new chairs. If you can’t make it, we’ve put together a slideshow for you. Enjoy!

Photos 1-5 via Paul Warchol Photography.

It’s all part of a partnership with Herman Miller whereby industrial design students were charged with coming up with a theme, then executing their ideas in a competition. The prize? A booth at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), held in New York City May 15-18. The students’ theme “Empathy for Culture” and the resulting creations won them a place at the show.

Herman Miller lent some of its people, namely Fabienne Munch, Gary Smith, and Tim McLoughlin, to provide guidance to the students throughout the creative process.

“Empathy for culture is beyond feeling for others,” said Fabienne, Director of Ideation for Herman Miller. “It appeals to a peculiar understanding of a culture’s own dialectics: what’s visible, what’s invisible or taken for granted; what’s felt, what’s cognitive; what’s conscious, what’s unconscious; what’s symbolic, what’s ephemeral?”

“They helped us to not only focus on our concepts, but also made us realize that our ideas were valid as designers,” Sara McBeen, a graduate student at Pratt, said about the guidance provided by Herman Miller. “Each of us found our own way to stay true and honest to the messages we were trying to communicate with our pieces. These kinds of opportunities are invaluable in shaping where we will go from here.”

McBeen’s project, the Aata table, “reflects the coming together, socializing, and sharing so strongly exhibited in Middle Eastern culture,” which she chose to investigate after traveling there and “appreciating their generosity, goodness, and hospitality.”

“This project gave me a chance to experience design expression in its purest form by translating my passion for Buddhism and meditation into a physical manifestation,” said Ivey Lian, another Pratt grad student, who was inspired by 10 days she spent at a silent Buddhist meditation retreat in Thailand.

Her piece, the Enso Wall Light, was based on a Zen Buddhist symbol showing the moment when the mind is free to let the body and spirit create.

“Every day distances within the world are shrinking,” said Mark Goetz, the students’ instructor at Pratt, who initiated the partnership with Herman Miller. “Pratt, an international gathering place for talent, is uniquely suited to express these issues. The exhibit represents a sincere effort from our students to express a deeper understanding a respect for cultures different from our own.”

And what better way to prepare them for the global village they’ll be part of as industrial designers?



Photographs of students’ work courtesy of Armando Rafael.