What do you listen to while you work?
Any music that helps make Nora a nice space to spend time. New stuff, old stuff, we really like to mix it up. Sometimes it depends on the weather or the time of day, but it’s never just mellow and it’s never just upbeat.

How do you listen?
On a portable speaker system that we can tuck out of eye shot in the store.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers?
Honestly, it’s impossible to pick out just one or two!

Does music influence your work?
Music plays a role early in our creative process because we play music while we think about what we want to the store to be, and later on because we use music to help create the Nora environment. It’s kind of a chicken-and-egg thing — did this song inspire ideas that go into Nora? Or did what Nora is inspire us to pick this song? We haven’t really figured it out yet.

Where do you find music recommendations? Who influences your musical taste?
Boy, all over the place. We are lucky enough to get Canadian radio here so CBC Radio 2 is always great, as are the music shows on our own public radio station WDET (which broadcasts just across the street!). Michele, our store manager, gets a lot of music ideas through her husband Christian, and he’s a fan of eMusic. A lot of our music is recommended by friends.

Do you have Herman Miller pieces in your studio, home or office?
All four of us on the Nora team have Herman Miller pieces we love in our homes. We really have a deep appreciation for Michigan’s modern design heritage and Herman Miller is a huge part of that. We love that Herman Miller continues to operate here in Michigan honoring the classics and innovating with new products.

Ideal place to sit and listen to your playlist is the Eames Soft Pad Lounge Chair with tilt swivel in Divina Melange #220, a warm light grey. With ottoman, of course. It seems a little sacrilegious to do something other than leather but that Divina Melange fabric is, well, divine. It’s perfect for our mix because it’s so comfortable, and it lets you dream during the mellow parts and dance in your seat when it’s upbeat.

Nora Modern’s Playlist:
1. Sooner or Later, Slumber Party
2. La Belle et le Bad Boy, MC Solaar
3. Beat Control, Tilly & the Wall
4. Losing You, Solange
5. The Late Great Cassiopia, The Essex Green
6. Song for Zula, Phosphorescent
7. Like a Motorway, St. Etienne
8. Autobahn, KraftWerk
9. The Black Keys Work, Erlend Oye,
10. Tombé Pour la France, Étienne Daho
11. Redemption Song, Moodswings with Tanita Tikarim

Photos: Michele Unverzagt

What do you listen to while you work?
Typically it’s something fairly mellow and very eclectic, but always something that I can also sing along with — for example, “Best of” albums from Sade, Steely Dan, the Eagles, and Queen.

How do you listen?
I’m usually at my desktop, so I’m using my computer speaker system. It’s a nice DELL setup with a large sub-woofer.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers?
I will go to Amazon.com and search their music section for singles. I haven’t been buying many albums lately.

Does music influence your work?
To quote Goethe, “Architecture is frozen music.”  Good architecture is about rhythm, scale, proportion, and composition — and so is good music.

Where do you find music recommendations? Who influences your musical taste?
Much of what I listen to is music from my youth or from a past era. I am also a fan of jazz, smooth jazz, and big band music. If I’m out and about today and hear something that peaks my interest, I’ll look it up online and listen to it.

What song or artist best represents the work you create?
I really enjoy enjoy Paul Hardcastle. His music is smooth and free-flowing and you can listen to it all day long. It’s comforting in a sense. Imagine being immersed in a building/space the same way.

Ideal place to sit and listen to your playlist:
A white leather Eames Soft Pad Lounge Chair with Ottoman – classic and timeless like my playlist.

Kathy Dixon’s Playlist:
1. Someone to Love, Queen
2. Smooth Operator, Sade
3. Never as Good as the First Time, Sade
4. Hotel California, Eagles
5. Desperado, Eagles
6. At Last, Etta James
7. Let’s Make Tonight the Night, Luter Vandross
8. Do It Again, Steely Dan
9. Somewhere in the World, Swing Out Sister
10. Lost Summer, Paul Hardcastle
11. Faithfully, Journey

Photos: Kathy Dixon

What do you listen to while you work? I listen to a wide range of music — anything from Sigur Rós to Rammstein to Lana Del Rey. I guess what really matters is what I am working on or if I am “working” at all. I usually just leave it on shuffle, it is a good way to weed out the “how did that get there?” songs. Lately I have been on a remix kick; there is a lot to sift through to find the good remixes, but they are out there.

How do you listen? When I’m at home, I use headphones plugged into my Mac to block out all of the distractions and so that I don’t become a distraction to the rest of my family. (I still need to put a door on my den). At my daytime gig, I listen through a set of old Labtec speakers that still sound pretty good. There are four of us in our office and we all share the “DJ” responsibilities.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers? My favorite places to find music are blogs and Tumblr sites. (Recently, I have been finding some really nice remixes by just searching the keyword “remix” from my Tumblr dashboard.) SoundCloud also has some pretty nice tracks. Friends and coworkers are always sharing their music finds as well.

Does music influence your work? I don’t think music directly influences my work, but I am willing to bet that subliminally it plays some role. I really can’t dive into a project without it. When I am working on something that is repetitive or doesn’t require a whole lot of thought — populating a website, for example — I like to listen to something that has a pretty good repetitive beat and seems to keep me on task. On the other hand, if I am creating something new (branding, for example), I like to listen to music that has more of an epic or dramatic feel.

Where do you find music recommendations? Who influences your musical taste? I usually find recommendations through friends’ blogs or Facebook pages. I really don’t find myself actively seeking new music; it just happens to be wherever I am looking for inspiration in one form or another. It is hard to say who influences my musical tastes; as of late, it has been my kids. I have a 10-year-old, a 7-year-old, and one coming in June. They are really starting to get into music and I often find myself asking, “Would my kids listen to that or is that suitable for my kids to listen to?” I also think that what influences me changes — it comes and goes with what is happening in my life.

What song or artist best represents the work you create? That is tough question. I think that could change from time to time as well. It would need to be a creator, someone who can take ideas and thoughts and make a great piece with them. Lately I have really liked the work of Pogo. He takes bits and pieces and assembles them to make a great song — complex yet simple.

Ideal place to sit and listen to your playlist: I have always loved the Eames Soft Pad Lounge Chair and Ottoman (tilt swivel, four cushions, arms, white base and frame with black leather). It has a tech feel while being a comfortable lounge chair — epic.

TYLER’S PLAYLIST:

1. Dead Hearts, Stars
2. Juke Joint Jezebel, KMFDM
3. Fostercare, Burial
4. Glosoli, Sigur Rós (Tyler says, “this video is epic.”)
5. Expialidocious, Pogo
6. My People, The Presets
7. Young Blood, The Naked and Famous
8. Kings and Queens, 30 Seconds to Mars
9. Waiting for the End, Linkin Park
10. Comeback Kid, Sleigh Bells

Photos: Johnny Trevino, except first and last, Kim Fetrow

P.S. Check out Tyler’s post on restoring these vintage Herman Miller Eames Shell Chairs.