George Nelson (29 May 1908 – 5 March 1986) was an American
industrial designer
Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufact ...
. While lead designer for the
Herman Miller furniture company, Nelson and his design studio, George Nelson Associates, designed 20th-century modernist
furniture
Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks) ...
. He is considered a founder of American modernist design.
Early life
Nelson was born on May 29, 1908, in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
, to Simeon Nelson and Lillian Canterow Nelson.
His parents owned a drugstore.
Nelson graduated from
Hartford Public High School in 1924, and thereafter attended
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
.
He did not originally set out to become an architect; he happened upon the architecture school at Yale, when he ducked into a building during a rainstorm, in order to get out of the rain. Walking through the building, he came upon an exhibit of students' works entitled "A Cemetery Gateway".
Nelson met with some early recognition while still an undergraduate, when he was published in ''Pencil Points'' and
''Architecture'' magazines. During his final year at Yale, he was hired by the architecture firm Adams and Prentice as a drafter.
In 1928, he graduated with a degree in architecture. In 1929, Nelson was hired as a Teacher's Assistant while pursuing his second bachelor's degree at Yale. He received a degree in Fine Arts in 1931.
The next year, while preparing for the
Paris Prize competition, he won the
Rome Prize
The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Prizes have been awarded annually since 1921, with a hiatus ...
, a fellowship that allowed him to study architecture in Rome for two years
with a healthy stipend and accommodations in a palace.
While based in Rome, Nelson traveled through Europe where he met a number of the modernist pioneers, whom he interviewed for articles for ''Pencil Points'' magazine. While being interviewed by Nelson,
Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...
asked about
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
, whom Nelson was embarrassed to say he did not know much about. Years later, however, Nelson would work with Wright on a special issue of ''
Architectural Forum
''Architectural Forum'' was an American magazine that covered the homebuilding industry and architecture. Started in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1892 as ''The Brickbuilder'', it absorbed the magazine ''Architect's World'' in October 1938. Ownership ...
'' which catalyzed Wright's comeback from relative obscurity.
While in Rome Nelson married Frances Hollister.
A few years later, he returned to the United States to devote himself to writing. Through his articles in ''Pencil Points'' he introduced the work of
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...
, Mies van der Rohe,
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
, and
Gio Ponti
Giovanni "Gio" Ponti ( ͡ʒo18 November 1891 – 16 September 1979) was an Italian architect, industrial designer, furniture designer, artist, teacher, writer and publisher.
During his career, which spanned six decades, Ponti built more tha ...
to North America.
1935–1944: Design writing
In 1935, Nelson joined ''
Architectural Forum
''Architectural Forum'' was an American magazine that covered the homebuilding industry and architecture. Started in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1892 as ''The Brickbuilder'', it absorbed the magazine ''Architect's World'' in October 1938. Ownership ...
'', where he was first associate editor (1935–1943), and later consulting editor (1944–1949). There, he defended the modernist principles, arguing against colleagues who, as "industrial designers", made too many concessions to the commercial forces of the industry.
Nelson believed the work of a designer should be to better the world. In his view, nature was already perfect, but man ruined it by making things that didn't follow the rules of nature. "The contemporary architect, cut off from symbols, ornament and meaningful elaborations of structural form, all of which earlier periods processed in abundance, has desperately chased every functional requirement, every change in sight or ornamentation, every technical improvement, to provide some basis for starting his work. Where the limitations were most rigorous, as for example in a factory, or in a skyscraper where every inch had to yield its profit, there the designers were happiest and the results most satisfying but; let a religious belief or a social ideal replace the cubic foot costs or radiation losses, and nothing happened. There is not a single modern church in the entire country that is comparable to a first-rate cafeteria, as far as solving the problem is concerned."
At this point, Nelson's career still mainly involved writing for architecture magazines and not actually designing the solutions to modern living that he would later become famous for. During this period George Nelson spent a great deal of time interviewing and exchanging ideas with the other founders of the modernist architecture movement of the 1940s, including
Eliot Noyes
Eliot Fette Noyes (August 12, 1910 – July 18, 1977) was an American architect and industrial designer, who worked on projects for IBM, most notably the IBM Selectric typewriter and the IBM Aerospace Research Center in Los Angeles, California ...
,
Charles Eames
Charles Ormond Eames Jr. (June 17, 1907 – August 21, 1978) was an American designer, architect and filmmaker. In professional partnership with his spouse Ray Kaiser Eames, he was responsible for groundbreaking contributions in the field of a ...
, and Walter B. Ford, all of whom he would later collaborate with.
By 1940, Nelson had become known for several innovative concepts. In his post-war book ''Tomorrow's House'', co-authored with Henry Wright, he introduced the concept of the "
family room
A family room is an informal, all-purpose room in a house. The family room is designed to be a place where family and guests gather for group recreation like talking, reading, watching TV, and other family activities. Often, the family room is lo ...
", and the "storage wall". The storage wall was essentially the idea of recessed, built-in bookcases or shelving occupying space previously lost between walls. It was an idea developed while writing the book, when Nelson's publisher was pressuring him to finish the section on storage. Neither Wright nor Nelson could find any additional innovations when Nelson posed the question, "What's inside the wall?",
It was then that the idea of utilizing the space between walls for storage was born. ''Tomorrow's House'' was innovative because it didn't look at modern design as a case of styles, but instead looked at the way problems needed to be solved.
The book was a commercial success and made it onto the
''New York Times'' bestseller list.
1945–1954: Herman Miller
In 1945, the
Herman Miller furniture company was producing mostly conventional, wood-based designs. After reading ''Tomorrow's House'' D.J. Depree, the Chairman of Herman Miller, selected Nelson to be the company's next Director of Design, despite Nelson having no experience designing furniture. Depree was more interested in Nelson's insight into the best way to make furniture innovative and useful. Nelson was offered a contract that allowed him the freedom to work outside of Herman Miller, and to use designs from other architects that Nelson had worked with. He became the Director of Design for Herman Miller in 1947, and held the position until 1972. The first Herman Miller catalog produced by Nelson was released in 1945. Over the following years it would include some of the most iconic home furnishings of the 20th century.
Ray and Charles Eames,
Harry Bertoia
Harry Bertoia (March 10, 1915 – November 1978) was an Italian-born American artist, sound art sculptor, and modern furniture furniture designer, designer.
Bertoia was born in Arzene, San Lorenzo, Province of Pordenone, Pordenone, Italy. A ...
,
Richard Schultz, Donald Knorr, and
Isamu Noguchi
was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several ...
all worked for Herman Miller, under Nelson's supervision. Although both Bertoia and Noguchi later expressed regrets about their involvement, it became a successful period for the company, and for George Nelson.
1955–1980s: George Nelson Associates, Inc.
Using the money he earned as Director of Design for Herman Miller, in 1947 Nelson opened a design studio in New York City. On October 26, 1955, he incorporated it into George Nelson Associates, Inc., and moved to 251
Park Avenue
Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...
South. The studio was successful in bringing together many of the top designers of the era, who were soon designing for Herman Miller under the George Nelson label. Among the noted designers who worked for George Nelson Associates, Inc. were
Irving Harper
Irving Harper (July 14, 1916 – August 4, 2015) was an American industrial designer.
, metropolismag. ...
, George Mulhauser (designer of the Coconut Chair),
Robert Brownjohn
Robert Brownjohn (August 8, 1925 – August 1, 1970) was an American graphic designer known for blending formal graphic design concepts with wit and 1960s pop culture. He is best known for his motion picture title sequences, especially '' From R ...
(designer of the sets for the
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
film ''
Goldfinger''),
Don Chadwick
Donald "Don" T. Chadwick (born 1936) is an American industrial designer specializing in office seating.
__NOTOC__
Early life
He was born in Los Angeles and developed an interest in furniture making from his grandfather, a cabinetmaker. He studie ...
, Bill Renwick, Suzanne Sekey, John Svezia, Ernest Farmer, Tobias O'Mara, Ronald Beckman (designer of the Sling Sofa), George Tscherny, (who designed the Herman Miller advertisements), Lance Wyman, and John Pile. With his studio, Nelson enacted new practices for the involvement of design in all aspects of the company, pioneering the practice of corporate image management, graphic programs, and signage. By the time the company closed in the mid-1980s George Nelson Associates, Inc. had worked with most of the
Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...
companies. George Nelson's architectural projects included what he dubbed "The Colombian Garden of Health", a
200-bed tertiary care hospital in Bogota, Colombia, commisoned by the Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota.
In 1959, he remarried to Jacqueline Griffiths.
That same year, he served as the lead designer for the
American National Exhibition
The American National Exhibition (July 25 to Sept. 4, 1959) was an exhibition of American art, fashion, cars, capitalism, model homes and futuristic kitchens that attracted 3 million visitors to its Sokolniki Park, Moscow venue during its six-week ...
in Moscow.
The office cubicle
In 1960 Herman Miller created the Herman Miller Research Corporation under the direction of
Robert Propst, and the supervision of George Nelson.
Although Nelson remained at Herman Miller's main campus in
Zeeland, Michigan
Zeeland ( ) is a city in Ottawa County, Michigan, Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 5,719 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The city is located at the western edge of Zeeland Charter Township, Michigan, Z ...
, Robert Propst and the Herman Miller Research Corporation was located in
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...
to place it in close proximity to the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
campus. The company's purpose was to examine changes in the use of office furniture that had taken place during the 20th century, but not the furniture itself. After consulting with experts in psychology, anthropology, and various other fields, Propst created the Action Office I line, which was executed by Nelson's studio, and first appeared in Herman Miller's 1964 catalog. For designing the Action Office I Nelson was awarded the prestigious Alcoa award. The Action Office I line was not a success, and Nelson was removed from the project. Propst then created the Action Office II, which is better known today as the
office cubicle
A cubicle is a partially enclosed office workspace that is separated from neighboring workspaces by partitions that are usually tall. Its purpose is to isolate office workers and managers from the sights and noises of an open workspace so that ...
. Despite the ''"Action Office II"'' line becoming Herman Miller's most successful project, George Nelson disowned himself from any connection with the project.
In 1970 he sent a letter to Robert Blaich, who had become Herman Miller's Vice-President for Corporate Design and Communication, in which he described the system's "dehumanizing effect as a working environment." He summed up his feeling by saying:
"One does not have to be an especially perceptive critic to realize that AO II is definitely not a system which produces an environment gratifying for people in general. But it is admirable for planners looking for ways of cramming in a maximum number of bodies, for "employees" (as against individuals), for "personnel," corporate zombies, the walking dead, the silent majority. A large market."
Scornful as he may have been, Nelson was right that there turned out to be a "larger market" for AO II. By 2005 total sales had reached $5 billion.
1980s: Retirement and death
Nelson retired with the closing of his studio in the mid-1980s. In 1984, he became a scholar in residence at the
Cooper-Hewitt Museum
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 museums that fall under the wing of the Smithsonian Inst ...
.
He died in New York City in 1986.
Influence and legacy
The George Nelson Associates, Inc. catalog, and exhibition designs for Herman Miller, made
modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
the most important driving force in the company. From his start in the mid-forties until the mid-eighties George Nelson Associates, Inc. partnered with most of the modernist designers of the time. This was both the result of Nelson's time as a magazine editor, and because of Nelson's writing. His skill as a writer helped legitimize and stimulate the field of industrial design by contributing to the creation of ''Industrial Design'' magazine in 1953.
Nelson wrote extensively, published several books, and organized conferences like the
Aspen
Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus.
Species
These species are called aspens:
*'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China ...
design gatherings, where for more than 30 years he was the guiding force.
In 1971, he received a grant from the
Graham Foundation
The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts is a 501(c)3 non-profit that “fosters the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. The Graham realize ...
for his project "Hidden Cities". One of George Nelson's areas of interest was the reduction of pollution. Through his attempts to reduce all forms of pollution, including visual, audio, and chemical, Nelson pioneered the idea of the outdoor shopping mall, first using the idea in a proposal for the city plan of
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
, which was not used.
In 2008, the
Vitra Design Museum
The Vitra Design Museum is a privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany.
Former Vitra CEO, and son of Vitra founders Willi and Erika Fehlbaum, Rolf Fehlbaum founded the museum in 1989 as an independent private foundation. The ...
in Weil am Rhein, Germany, held a retrospective of Nelson's work to celebrate his 100th birthday.
Design critic
Alice Rawsthorn
Alice Rawsthorn OBE (born 1958 in Manchester) is a British design critic and author. Her books include ''Design as an Attitude'' (2018) and ''Hello World: Where Design Meets Life'' (2013). She is chair of the board of trustees at the Chisenhal ...
, covering the retrospective for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', argued that Nelson's contributions have been unfairly overlooked due to his association with the cubicle and jokey 1950s objects. "Blaming Nelson for the soullessness of today's open-plan offices seems as unfair as slating Le Corbusier for other architects' sloppily designed skyscrapers, or Marcel Duchamp for every lazy piece of conceptual art," she wrote. "
elsonchampioned the importance of values in design, which he saw as a catalyst for social change."
Attribution
In recent years it has become known that many of the designs George Nelson accepted credit for were actually the work of other designers employed at his studios.
Examples of this include the
Marshmallow sofa, which was actually designed by
Irving Harper
Irving Harper (July 14, 1916 – August 4, 2015) was an American industrial designer.
, metropolismag. ...
,
and the
Action Office
The Action Office is a series of furniture designed by Robert Propst, and manufactured and marketed by Herman Miller. First introduced in 1964 as the ''Action Office I'' product line, then superseded by the ''Action Office II'' series, it is an i ...
, for which Nelson won the prestigious Alcoa Award, neglecting to mention that it was largely designed by Robert Propst.
John Pile, a designer who worked for Nelson in the 1950s, commented about this practice; "George's attitude was that it was okay for individual designers to be given credit in trade publications, but for the consumer world, the credit should always be to the firm, not the individual. He didn't always follow through on that policy though."
In an interview in ''Metropolis'' in 2001, Irving Harper also commented on this practice: "...there always had to be one name associated with the work. We couldn't just spread it around… that's fine. I'm grateful to George for what he did for me. While he was alive, I made no demands whatsoever, but now that he's gone, whenever the Marshmallow Sofa is referred to as a 'George Nelson design', it sort of gets to me. I don't go out of my way to set things right, but if anybody asks me who designed it, I'm perfectly happy to tell them."
Furniture designs
(# indicates designs currently available from Herman Miller)
* 1946 Slat Bench a/k/a Platform Bench #
* 1946 Basic Cabinet Series # (a number of these cabinets were reintroduced by Herman Miller in 2011)
* 1946 Sofas, chairs, settees, and bedroom pieces (all included in the first Herman Miller catalog)
* 1947 Bubble Lamp # (previously available from Howard Miller Clock company, then Modernica, but now available as of 2016 from Herman Miller)
* 1950 Ball clock # (likely designed by Irving Harper, originally made by Howard Miller, reintroduced by Vitra)
* 1952 Rosewood Group
* 1952 Executive Office Group
* 1954 Miniature Cases #
* 1954 Steel-frame Group
* 1954 Nelson End Table (and low coffee table) #
* 1955 Flying Duck Chair
* 1955 Coconut Chair # (currently available in black leather only, but without the matching ottoman)
* 1956 Thin Edge Cases # (a number of these cabinets were reintroduced by Herman Miller in 2012)
* 1956 Kangaroo Chair
* 1958 Swagged-Leg (a/k/a/ Swag Leg) Group # (reintroduced by Herman Miller in 2011)
* 1959 Comprehensive Storage System (CSS)
* 1963 Catenary Group
* 1964 Action Office I (principally designed by Robert Propst)
* 1964 Sling Sofa & coffee table
His firm, George Nelson Associates, also designed a large series of wall and table clocks for the
Howard Miller company, as well as a range of hanging Bubble Lamps, which had plastic membrane-covered wire-form shades, wrought iron fireplace pieces, planters, room dividers, ceiling-mounted "Ribbon Wall," spice cabinets, and many other products that became milestones in the history of a profession that he helped to shape.
A number of the nearly 300 classic wall and table clocks for Howard Miller Clock Company (including the Ball, Kite, Eye, Turbine, Spindle, Petal and Spike clocks, as well as a handful of desk clocks) are currently available from
Vitra. Many were designed by Irving Harper (as well as Lucia Derespinis, Charles Pollock, and others). Subsequently, Vitra has discontinued some of their reproduction clocks based on sales.
All the original clock designs were simply assigned numbers by Howard Miller. Probably the most recognisable of the series, the Ball Clock, was advertised and sold as 'Clock 4755'; the Sunflower Clock as 'Clock 2261'. Several colour variations were available for many of the clocks. The Ball Clock was available in six colour variations, the Sunflower Clock in three. One of the more unusual designs, the Eye Clock ('Clock 2238') was pictured in the original Howard Miller Clock Company brochures in a diagonal position, not horizontal, as would be expected.
[''Mid-Century Online Magazine'', George Nelson and the Howard Miller Clock Company, November 7, 2012]
/ref>
Analysis of work
Metadesign
It has been argued that Nelson might be called a metadesign
Metadesign (or meta-design) is an emerging conceptual framework aimed at defining and creating social, economic and technical infrastructures in which new forms of collaborative design can take place. It consists of a series of practical design-r ...
er – that his intent of study and practice was neither the building nor the product but rather the process of design itself. Nelson's manner of interdisciplinary design, and therefore progressive thinking, reoriented the entire concern with capitalist destruction around the dynamic of producer and product.
However, when comparing the careers of other designers, he seemed not only unconventional and tastefully noncommercial, but at times negative. "...it is the career of an architect who advocated the end of architecture, a furniture designer who imagined rooms without furniture, an urban designer who contemplated the hidden city, an industrial designer who questioned the future of the object and hated the obsession with products."
Fairchild House
New York, New York. US 1941-The Fairchild House was built for the Airplane manufacturer Sherman Fairchild
Sherman Mills Fairchild (April 7, 1896 – March 28, 1971) was an American businessman and investor. He founded over 70 companies, including Fairchild Aircraft (Fairchild Aviation Corporation), Fairchild Industries, and Fairchild Camera and Inst ...
and was meant to be a "machine for living". What made the Fairchild House different from every other Brown Stone in New York was its views. There was a courtyard in the middle of the building and all the windows faced in toward it. This made the home feel more tranquil and the view provided use for Nelson's signature floor to ceiling windows. Much of the house is designed in style not necessarily common in early modern design. This is evidence of Nelson's philosophy that "good design is timeless."[Ferhman, Kennith, Cherie Ferhman, Post War Interior Design. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1987.]
Sling Sofa
Herman Miller 1963- This sofa is made of leather
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...
and filled with solid foam cushions. The joints are all held with epoxy
Epoxy is the family of basic components or cured end products of epoxy resins. Epoxy resins, also known as polyepoxides, are a class of reactive prepolymers and polymers which contain epoxide groups. The epoxide functional group is also coll ...
so that it can be more easily mass-produced and sold for a cheaper price. There is no need for hand crafting with this sofa.[Meadmore, Clement. The Modern Chair: Classics in Production. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1979.] Because of its perfect proportions and light appearance it doesn't look like it's just an elongated chair. Nelson's use of a single welt along the perimeter of the padding gives the seating an approachable softness and yet, there is more going on that cannot be seen. The padding is held up by rubber bands that allow for more comfort and the use of epoxy for the joints gives the shape a much smoother feel. It is a modern design only because it was made recently. Like most of Nelson's work it was only designed to be as useful and comfortable as possible. A rare coffee table was also designed.
References
*
*Borgerson, Janet and Jonathan Schroeder (2017)
Designed for Hi-Fi Living: The Vinyl LP in Midcentury America
MIT Press, 2017.
*
* Nelson George. "How to See: Visual Adventures in a World God Never Made." Phaidon Press
Phaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional off ...
, 2017.
External links
George Nelson Foundation
GeorgeNelson.org
(unofficial fan site)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, George
Modernist designers
American furniture designers
1908 births
1986 deaths
AIGA medalists
Yale School of Architecture alumni