1. A peek into a wallpaper collection designed by Alexander Girard for Herman Miller in 1953 at Cooper-Hewitt.

2. This sunlight-flooded workspace (and its cushy Eames Soft Pad Executive Chair) spotted by Minimal Desks.

3. This quote by George Nelson featured at “Design Notes” by Design Within Reach.

4. The textured, basket-weave aluminum exterior of the extension of the Messe Basel exhibition center designed by Herzog & de Meuron (via Dezeen).

5. The Los Angeles Times on the development of the Eames Molded Wood Side Chair.

6. Design Milk’s color palettes inspired by Alexander Girard-designed interiors at the J. Irwin Miller House in Columbus, Indiana.

7. “Why Wooden Toys?” at The New Yorker.

8. A look at Yves Behar’s new August smart lock, which allows you to open doors using a mobile app, at TechCrunch.

9. This striking 17-windowed loft in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City featured at DigsDigs.

10. Desire to Inspire’s tour of a mid-century-modern-inspired home by Australian architect Chris Dimond.

Photo: Tina Kulic

1. Design Milk’s sneak peak at an upcoming addition to the Herman Miller Collection: Picnic Sofa by Industrial Facility.

2. Architect William O’Brien Jr.’s design of the Hendee-Borg House (check out the the saw-tooth roof line outside, and the various Eames pieces inside) (via Plastolux).

3. A look at the new Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art at Co.Design.

4. The cover of Print magazine’s Regional Design Annual for its depictions of the various places and ways we work today.

5. This article on the influence of “Powers of Ten,” the experimental film by Charles and Ray Eames, at Slate.

6. The spirited workspace of the UK-based juice and fruit smoothie company Innocent, designed by Stiff + Trevillion and featured at designboom.

7. “Remembering Evelyn Ackerman, a midcentury master of craft” at the LA Times.

8. Another loss, this time in the field of architecture: Brazil’s Oscar Niemeyer (via Architizer).

9. These interiors by St Louis-based CURE Design Group at Desire to Inspire.

10. Per ArchDaily, AIA has just ranked Columbus, Indiana as the U.S.’s 6th “Most Architecturally Important City,” thanks in part to designs like this.

Featured in the photo above: Nelson Coconut Lounge Chair, Nelson Pedestal Table, and Nelson Pedestal Stool

We’ve put together an incredible trip to the Miller House (see the slideshow below for pics from my trip to the iconic home) that you can win. It includes flights to Columbus, two nights accommodation at the Inn at Irwin Gardens and, of course, a tour of the Miller House plus an architectural tour of Columbus – a town that sports some of the best modernist architecture in the country. For more details click here.

What was interesting this year is we were actually going back to an original design with the re-issued Eames Aluminum Group chairs – of course, with some significant updates (technology lets us do cool things with mesh). The iconic chairs, that are so well known to Lifework readers, actually originated as outdoor furniture designed for the Miller House in Columbus, Indiana. Ha! I can hear the penny drop. So that’s why we designed the booth with the Miller House in mind. It all makes sense now. You get to see the new/old design in their natural setting – an iconic modern home with a seamless flow between indoors and out. You can read more detail about the booth and chairs here. But I thought you’d like to get a glimpse of them asap.

Yesterday was spent touring the town’s buildings and with the help of Cindy Frey from the Visitors Centre we were even able to get into J Irwin Miller’s private office on Washington Street. The building, which is being sold, was completed in the late 1800s but the interior was revamped in the early 1970s by Alexander Girard and it was amazing. It’s one of the coolest workspaces I’ve seen outside of the Mad Men set! You are going to have to wait a bit for a slideshow from yesterday. What I can share with you today is the Miller House. It was so interesting to see where Miller lived and also worked. Enjoy the slideshow!

And now you’ll have to wait a bit until we get the slideshow up to see the rest of house.

The Miller House history is intrinsically tied to Herman Miller. The home was commissioned by J. Irwin Miller, a wealthy industrialist, and his wife Xenia Simons Miller in 1953. Miller and his wife hired Eero Saarinen to design the house, Alexander Girard to work on the interiors and Dan Kiley to take care of the landscape architecture. Girard’s fabrics for Herman Miller feature heavily throughout the home. And it was Girard that got the Eameses involved. He saw the need for outdoor furniture and called on his friends Ray and Charles to design chairs for the verandah. A year later the Aluminum Group lounge chair was in production at Herman Miller. (More on that story later this week!)

Above: Saarinen and Eames met at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. (Image via SMOW)

In 2000 the house was designated a National Historic Landmark. Dan Kiley, was still living and the house was still occupied by the Irwins. Today the house is open to the public for tours. In fact, the first tour is tomorrow and I will be on it – camera in hand. I’m very excited to share this beautiful house with you.

Learn more about the home at the Indianapolis Museum of Art site and the Miller House Symposium, Friday, May 20. Dwell magazine also has an excellent slideshow of the house here.