Niels Diffrient (6 September 1928 – 8 June 2013) 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 manufactu ...

. Diffrient focused mainly on

ergonomic Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...

seating, and his most well known designs are the Freedom and Liberty chairs, manufactured by Humanscale.

Biography

Diffrient was born in 1928 in a farmhouse near Star, Mississippi. During the Great Depression his family relocated to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, where Diffrient attended

Cass Technical High School Cass Technical High School (simply referred to as Cass Tech) is a public high school in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, United States.

. He then attended

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

, and finally

Cranbrook Academy of Art The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. It consists of C ...

, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

and excelled as an outstanding student, winning the First Medal in Design three of his four years there. While in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

on a Fulbright Scholarship in 1954, Diffrient went to work in the studio of the great architect

Marco Zanuso Marco Zanuso (14 May 1916 – 11 July 2001) was a leading Italian Modernist architect and designer. Early life Marco Zanuso was born in Milan (Italy) 14 May 1916. He was one of a group of Italian designers from Milan shaping the internat ...

, where he assisted with the design of an award-winning Borletti sewing machine. Upon arriving back in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1955, Diffrient joined Dreyfuss Associates in their Pasadena offices, and spent the next few decades revolutionizing American industrial design through his development of interiors and corporate identity for American Airlines planes, the landmark

Princess telephone The Princess telephone was introduced by the Bell System in 1959. It was a compact telephone designed for convenient use in the bedroom, and contained a light-up dial for use as a night-light. It was commonly advertised with the slogan "It's lit ...

, the

Polaroid SX-70 The SX-70 is a folding single lens reflex Land camera which was produced by the Polaroid Corporation from 1972 to 1981. History In 1948, Polaroid introduced its first consumer camera. The Land Camera Model 95 was the first camera to use ins ...

camera, and tractor seats for John Deere. In 1980 after 25 years with Henry Dreyfuss Associates, Diffrient left to start his own independent practice, establishing a design studio in Ridgefield, Connecticut which he shared with his wife, tapestry artist Helena Hernmarck. In his career, which lasted over a half century, Diffrient designed every type of equipment, as well as computers, exhibits, trucks, airplane interiors and corporate identity programs. He has also been broadly published in the field of design and

human factors Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...

, most notably as co-author of the three-volume publication, Humanscale, in 1974 and 1981. He is credited with pioneering the use of

ergonomics Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...

, or what he called

human factors engineering Human factors and ergonomics (commonly referred to as human factors) is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Four primary goals of human factors learnin ...

, in dozens of office furniture designs. Additionally, Niels spent time as adjunct Professor of Design at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

for eight years and was a visiting critic at the

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

School of Architecture for two years. Articles about him and his work have appeared in Time Magazine, Fortune, Business Week and The New York Times to name a few. Diffrient died on 8 June 2013 at his home in

Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 25,033 at the 2020 census. The town center, which was formerly a borough ...

Awards

In the field of furniture design, most notably ergonomic seating, Diffrient won a total of 24 awards, including two Best of Show and 10 Gold and Top awards. He cited in more than 46 design and utility patents on furniture designs in America and abroad. Other honors include the

I.D. (magazine) ''I.D.'' (''The International Design Magazine'') was a magazine covering the art, business, and culture of design. It was published eight times a year by F+W Media. History ''I.D.'' was founded in 1954 as ''Industrial Design''. The name was late ...

Top 40 Design Innovators of 1996, the 1996 Chrysler Award for Innovation, the Smithsonian’s 2002 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Product Design, and the 2005 Legend Award from Contract magazine. In 2007,

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

.com named Diffrient the "granddaddy of the ergonomic revolution" and one of ten "Tastemakers" in the field of industrial design. In 1987 he was appointed an Honorary

Royal Designer for Industry Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustaine ...

(RDI) by the Royal Society for Arts (RSA) in London. In 2012, he received a Lifetime Contribution to Design Award and FX Magazine International Interior Design Awards.

Products designed by Niels Diffrient

Humanscale

Humanscale is an American company based in New York City, best known for its Freedom chair designed by Niels Diffrient and introduced in 1999.Humanscale History
Chairs: * Freedom Chair, 1999: The chair was considered innovative for its internal

counterbalance A counterweight is a weight that, by applying an opposite force, provides balance and stability of a mechanical system. The purpose of a counterweight is to make lifting the load faster and more efficient, which saves energy and causes less wear ...

mechanism that allegedly supports the user’s body at all points during recline, a first for task chairs. The Freedom chair has

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

ed synchronous arms, which adjust simultaneously. The headrest tilts forward as the sitter reclines, keeping the head in an upright position. * Liberty Chair, 2004: Humanscale’s other notable task chair is its Liberty chair, also designed by Niels Diffrient, which was introduced in 2004. The Liberty chair is a tri-panel mesh back design, which allegedly provides lumbar support.Metropolis Magazine, Machines for Sitting: The complex job of making your office chair simple Like the Freedom chair, Liberty is also outfitted with a balanced recline mechanism that is supposed to support all sitters throughout recline. * Diffrient World Chair, 2009 Humanscale also manufactures keyboard support systems, monitor arms, task lighting, and various other

work tools, including: * Diffrient Task and Work Light, 2002

Other

* Diffrient Chair (

Knoll In geography, knoll is another term for a knowe or hillock, a small, low, round natural hill or mound. Knoll may also refer to: Places * Knoll Camp, site of an Iron Age hill fort Hampshire, England, United Kingdom * Knoll Lake, Leonard Canyon, A ...

), 1979 * Helena Chair and Jefferson Chair (SunarHauserman), 1984 * Flexible Workspace Furniture System ( KI), 1998 * John Deere tractors (

Henry Dreyfuss Henry Dreyfuss (March 2, 1904 – October 5, 1972) was an American industrial design pioneer. Dreyfuss is known for designing some of the most iconic devices found in American homes and offices throughout the twentieth century, including the We ...

) * Borletti Sewing Machine (Marco Zanuso) * Confessions of a Generalist (Generalist Ink, LLC)

Publications

*Diffrient, Niels. ''Humanscale: Manual''. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1974. Print. *Diffrient, Niels, Mildred S. Friedman, Joan Bardagjy, and Nicholas Polites. ''Dimensions of Experience: Understanding and Measuring Human Experience in the Designed Environment''. Minneapolis, Minn: Walker Art Center, 1975. Print. *Diffrient, Niels. ''Confessions of a Generalist.'' Danbury, Conn.: Generalist Ink, LLC, 2012. Print. *Lutz, Brian. ''Eero Saarinen: Furniture for Everyman''. New York: Pointed Leaf Press, 2012. Print. *Pedersen, Martin C. "Niels Diffrient." ''Metropolis: Architecture Design'' 32.8 (2013): 88. ''Biography Reference Bank (H.W. Wilson)''. Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

References

External links

* emembering the Genius of Niels Diffrien

* he Story Of Industrial Designer Niels Diffrien

Chrysler Design Awards

Freedom Chair

Liberty Chair

Niels Diffrient Bio: Contract Magazine

Neils Diffrient Bio: Design Within Reach

* ttp://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oral-history-interview-niels-diffrient-15875 Archives of American Art Oral History Interview with Niels Diffrient, 2010
Henry Dreyfuss Associates
* *
Niels Diffrient: Rethinking the way we sit down (TED2002)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diffrient, Niels 1928 births 2013 deaths American furniture designers American industrial designers Cass Technical High School alumni Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni Wayne State University alumni Royal Designers for Industry