Good cheer abounds in this festive poster designed by graphic designer and educator Linda Powell.  The poster is part of a set of four created to promote the 1978 Herman Miller Christmas Party.  The beloved Zeeland, Michigan furniture company has a hearty tradition of exceptionally made products and innovative communication design, geared both outwardly, for...

“Sharp, brilliant colors skillfully combined or used with neutral tones provide excitement in an extensive collection of textiles introduced by Herman Miller Company…” describes the New York Times writer Betty Pipes of Alexander Girard’s debut textile collection in 1952.[1] Girard was a European trained architect who came to prominence in Detroit, where he established an...

This poster designed by Seymour Chwast for Herman Miller Furniture Company is all about the details. Chwast skillfully packed a bustling city scene overflowing with conversation into the poster’s vertical format, requiring the viewer to look closely and engage with the design’s dialogue as though reading a comic or storybook animated by the designer’s careful...

Alexander Girard was one of the most prolific interior architects of the twentieth century, one who expressed his enthusiasm for design through his vibrant use of color. Believing that modernism did not equate with the use of drab colors, he incorporated bright hues and bold geometric patterns into his designs. He developed an exciting fabric line for...

George Nelson and his team at George Nelson Associates were the creative force behind many iconic mid-century furniture designs—such as the “Marshmallow” sofa and various storage systems—but it is in the company’s playful clock designs of the 1950s and 1960s that the whimsy of mid-century modern design excels. The Asterisk wall clock’s simple design relates...

In 2012, under the direction of Stephen Frykholm, Herman Miller, Inc. solicited proposals from a group of international graphic designers for a limited edition poster campaign that would highlight ten of their iconic products still in production.  Ten posters, produced in a edition of ten copies of each, were printed and exhibited in a small...

Two Volume Set, The Story of Eames Furniture This is my favorite design book from 2010. Yes, it’s huge! That’s a twelve inch ruler in the photo. It runs to 800 gloriously printed pages containing over 2,500 images, with a sturdy box to protect the volumes. Congratulations to Gestalten for such a superb production! And...

Pioneering and little known furniture designer, Gilbert Rohde (1894 1944), specialized in designing clean, modern pieces appropriate for any room in the house, and his advanced merchandising techniques with Herman Miller laid the groundwork for future designers including George Nelson and Charles and Ray Eames. In this panel we bring together Phyllis Ross, author of...

Pioneering and little known furniture designer, Gilbert Rohde (1894 1944), specialized in designing clean, modern pieces appropriate for any room in the house, and his advanced merchandising techniques with Herman Miller laid the groundwork for future designers including George Nelson and Charles and Ray Eames. In this panel we bring together Phyllis Ross, author of...