Herman Miller

Herman Miller rolled out their first line of modern furniture in 1933. After this herman Miller hired George Nelson to design for the company. Nelson designed the Herman Miller logo that is still used today as well as several pieces of furniture including the marshmallow sofa, coconut chair, and the nelson platform bench.

We also heard a lot about Ray and Charles Eames. Ray and Charles were a husband and wife design team who created amazing furniture that people still regularly use today. Their furniture design was inspired by a leg splint that they were commissioned to design by the U.S. military during WWII. This splint used thin plywood that was bent and pressed into the proper shape. This inspired several chairs that the Eames created out of bent and pressed plywood to create comfortable and modern chairs for residential and commercial settings. Some of their most famous chairs include their bent plywood chair, molded fiberglass rocker, a chaise lounge sleeper, and the Eamses lounge chair and ottoman.

After having been primarily involved in residential design, Herman Miller began to become involved in commercial design. Robert Propst was hired to do research on commercial design and eventually developed the action office after seeing a need for change in the working environment. The action office was not initially  received as he wished, however, today their are 7 different Herman Miller models of the action office.

Herman Miller continues to be a highly successful company and over the years have bought out several companies including Geiger, Nemschoff, and Design Within Reach.

Some Herman Miller pieces:

Eames plywood chair

Eames lounge chair and ottoman

Eames fiberglass rocker

original Action Office system

Today's use of Herman Miller:

Using Eames fiberglass chair in dining room

new Action Office system

Peer Reviews: