Design, Products
October 31, 2011
By Amy Feezor
1. Quartz No. 2, $360.00 Artist Matthew Cleland crafts his glass and lead-free soldered pieces by hand. Get it: Score and Solder
2. “Take a Dip,” $125.00 Each terrarium from Brooklyn-based Twig contains a spirited scene using miniature figurines—like this swimmer from the 1920s sporting a smart striped bathing suit. Get it: Twig
3. Three Itty Bitty Terrariums, $16.20 Perk up any corner of your workspace with one of these easy-to-maintain picks, each of which includes a small succulent. Get it: Tortoise Loves Donkey
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Balance, Design, Products
October 31, 2011
By Cerentha Harris
This interview with Gabe Wing, who is a key member of our sustainable design team, marks the beginning of a green week here on Lifework. The company recently released our Better World Report at Greenbuild and it inspired me to look more closely at all things green here at Herman Miller. What do we mean by green? I think founder D.J. De Pree put it beautifully back in 1953 when he said “We will be a good steward of the environment.”
That commitment to good stewardship hit new heights in the late 90s with the work of Gabe Wing and Scott Charon. Under their watchful leadership Design for the Environment (DfE) protocol was born.
Studio 7.5′s Mirra Chair was the first piece to find itself under the bright lights of Wing and Charon’s new guidelines. Was that a smooth process? Bill Birchard in his book Merchants of Virtue tracks the development of the chair as it faced resistance from within the company by people under pressure to meet deadlines and budgets. Mirra’s initial design garnered a DfE score of 63 percent. After serious work and much heated debate it hit 80 percent on completion with 96 percent of the pieces that make up the chair being recyclable.
We’re also proud of the fact that we’ve reduced the shipping times for most Mirra models. When you order Mirra through the Herman Miller store most models will now be shipped within five days.
And while you’re waiting we’ll send you a copy of Birchard’s Merchant of Virtue so you can read some more (this is for store orders only). Birchard has written a really compelling book – and I know it’s about our company but I just finished the book and it certainly doesn’t sugar coat how hard it is to honor De Pree’s commitment to being good environmental stewards. It’s a frank look at what it takes to run a successful company that takes its environmental responsibility seriously.
Above: Gabe Wing, left and Scott Charon at Herman Miller headquarters.
We went to Wing to find out more about Mirra and the role it played in our ongoing commitment to sustainability.
1. The Mirra was the first design to be impacted by the environmental standards you were setting up back in 2003. What obstacles did you face getting the design to meet the new standards? The big obstacles were in obtaining detailed chemical formulations on all of the materials used in the chair down to 0.01%. This is like going to Coca-cola and asking for their secret recipe. It is easier now since our suppliers understand our design for the environment process but it was difficult in the beginning. Also we needed to develop alternatives to materials that we had used for decades like PVC used in arm pads.
2. Tell us about collaborating with Studio 7.5 who designed the chair. How did that process work? Working with Studio 7.5 was great. Very early on in the project, we shared our sustainable design protocol with them. We explained our focus on safe chemistry, designing for disassembly, recyclability and recycled content. They were already thinking in these terms. Working with our engineering team, they helped create what was called by Bill McDonough, “the most compete and thorough example of Cradle to Cradle design.” (Need to lookup actual quote. )
3. How did the work of Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart ( of MBDC) support and feed the work you were doing? C2C is one of the key tools we use as part of our sustainable design process. Working together with Bill and Michael, we embedded the principles of C2C into the development process that launched Mirra. We were struggling to find a replacement for PVC in the arm pads. The project team was dealing with a shrinking schedule and wanted to launch with PVC and fix it later. A visit from Bill inspired the team to find a solution which led to a material breakthrough and allowed the chair to launch on time.
4. You were brought on at Herman Miller to develop and launch Design for the Environment protocol. What was your background? I have a BS and an MS in chemical engineering. I spent the first 8 years of my career working in various roles in the plastics industry. I have been with HMI for 10 years, as part of our sustainable design team. My background in polymer science has been very helpful as we work with our suppliers to develop more sustainable materials.
5. Which chair do you sit in at work? I sit in an C-size Aeron chair at home and at work. I am fairly tall and find that I am just outside 95% size that Mirra was designed for.
Balance, Design, Products, Technology
October 28, 2011
By Cerentha Harris
Where we’ve been this week…
1. Poketo’s blog for their day-in-the-life story on artist Karolin Schnoor. Includes some interesting workspace shots.
2. Eastern Design Studios for their incredible residential work.
3. Monocole‘s new radio station. Streams great music while you work (above).
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Balance, Design, Technology
October 27, 2011
By Cerentha Harris
This week we ask Helen Rice and Josh Nissenboim, founders of digital agency Fuzzco to come up with their perfect live/work space. Their current one in Charleston, SC is pretty cool (above and below) so I was interested to see what these two would come up with. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
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Balance, Design, Technology
October 26, 2011
By Amy Feezor
Because he spent several years touring and recording as a bass guitarist with indie rock bands, we’re giving Washington, D.C.-based product designer Jonah Takagi extra cred when it comes to creating an interesting work mix. Take a listen to what he’s put together for us in this week’s Playlist.
Above: Jonah Takagi’s Scaffold Shelving
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Design, Products
October 25, 2011
By Cerentha Harris
We’re excited about the release of the Jason Cohn and Bill Jersey‘s documentary EAMES: The Architect and The Painter. The film offers an in-depth look at the couple’s incredible design legacy. For a peek check out David Foster’s piece over on Discover where he’s posted a trailer from the PBS documentary. And yes, the narrator’s voice does sound familiar – it’s James Franco.
Here we continue our Eames Spotting series where we feature an image from the media that includes a piece of Eames design along with comments from Daniel Ostroff, the editor of EamesDesigns.com.
“The photographer who took this shot and the designer and homeowner who organized the room either deliberately or unconsciously recognized a connection between the work of Charles and Ray Eames and the work of Mies Van Der Rohe. On one side of the desk is the Eames Soft Pad Chair, introduced in 1969. On the other side of the desk is a Mies Van Der Rohe Brno chair, introduced in 1930. Both fit well in this very contemporary 2011 interior, because the designers worked with similar ideas in mind. One of the ideas was expressed by Charles Eames who liked to reference this Mies Van Der Rohe quote, ‘I don’t want to be interesting, I want to be good.’ Here’s to that kind of goodness.”
Daniel Ostroff, EamesDesigns.com
Technology
October 25, 2011
By Cerentha Harris
Jiyoung Seo‘s touch sensitive Modular Wall Storage Unit is called SAI, Korean for “between”, and seems in the lineage of the classic Utensilo wall organizer. Tap the silicone blocks and they light up like you’re a contestant of your very own organizing game show. Watch it in action below.
By Gregory Han.
This story appears in partnership with Unplggd, a site for people who embrace technology and design in their home.
Balance, Design
October 24, 2011
By Cerentha Harris
We came across Elizabeth Roberts, who runs her design practice from her home in Brooklyn, on Remodelista back in February. Here Roberts talks about her work, how she found herself studying architecture at Berkeley to opening up her own practice after working at William Turnbull in Northern California and Beyer Blinder Belle in New York.
1. You are a designer based in New York. Tell us about your background. What led you into this field? In high school I thought about going into architecture. A friend of my mother’s who was an enviably strong woman and feminist suggested that it was a great field for women. Everyone in my family were doctors so in my sophomore year in college I told my mother I’d finally decided to declare my major as “pre-med”. She was silent and finally she blurted out that she’d hoped I would do something with my creative abilities. That summer I spent as an intern at an architecture firm and I studied art in Paris during my Junior year. When I finally decided to study architecture my mother was the one who helped me apply to transfer to UC Berkeley while I was in Paris –I will always appreciate that encouragement from her!
After I graduated I ended up in New York City. It was a recession and there weren’t many jobs out there. One of my professors who I had worked with at William Turnbull Associates suggested that I specialize in Historic Preservation. It made sense. I had spent a few summers as a “site architect” at a dig in Crete and was interested in architectural history. I’m glad that I followed his advice, mostly because I ended up in New York and haven’t left ever since…
2. Your work exudes a warm minimalism and I think part of that is your use of timber in your projects -whether it be a beautiful wood dining table or kitchen island. How would you describe your style? Are you conscious of keeping spaces spare but soft-edged? Yes, I think one of the things that is very important to me is to “showcase” certain elements in a space –to allow enough space and “quiet” around an object for it to be seen. That often translates into wood against a painted surface, or a colorful item beside a white surface.
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Balance, Design, Products, Technology
October 21, 2011
By Cerentha Harris
Where we’ve been this week…
1. There’s a new Alexander Girard book for kids due out November 1.
2. Dwell for their “Houses We Love” series. The one above is a floating home in Seattle’s Portage Bay.
3. Living Etc is a UK interiors magazine with an excellent site. Check out their home tours section. I liked the home office below.
4. Muji for their online stationery store that is packed with cleanly designed goodies.
5. Habitus is an Australian architecture journal focused on the Pacific Rim and has an excellent house section on its website. Check out this eco-house in Singapore (below).
6. Core77 for their photo tour of designer David Week’s workspace.
7. Selectism for their post on Jasper Morrison’s sleek book ends (below).
8.Debbie Millman’s Design Matters podcasts on iTunes. Podcast Number 9 is with our very own Steve Frykholm.
9. Inc Magazine’s roundup of cool home offices.
10. PSFK for their Top 10 Creatives series. So much inspiring design out there!
Technology
October 20, 2011
By Cerentha Harris
Let’s face it: There are plenty of good protective cases available for your iPad or iPhone, but most companies give little or no regard to the manufacturing process, or the materials they choose for their cases. Let’s change that and support products that create socially responsible gear to protect our devices.
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