Original thinking
Many Herman Miller designs are part of the permanent collections of prestigious museums around the world, including The New York Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Henry Ford Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution.
We're proud of our place in the story of modern American design, but these pieces weren't designed for museum pedestals. They were designed to be lived with in homes and offices, and loved by people like you. That's why so many of these classic designs remain in production today.
Our commitment to producing non-traditional furniture and other products designed to meet the present and future needs of real people began in the midst of the Great Depression.
In 1930, we began working with Gilbert Rhode, a brilliant designer who talked about the honesty of simple lines and maintained that furniture should be purposeful, space-saving, and durable. Rhode’s ideas represented more than an aesthetic change for Herman Miller. They perfectly reflected the ethics of our founder, D.J. De Pree, and the tiny farm town near the Lake Michigan shoreline where our company was born in 1923.
Honesty. Quality. Craft. Environmental stewardship. Today, these values remain central to the mission of Herman Miller, just as our company remains headquartered in Zeeland, Michigan, all these years later.
Our corporate values helped forge lasting ties with some of the world's most provocative and thoughtful designers: George Nelson, Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, Alexander Girard, Bob Probst, Bill Stumpf, Don Chadwick, Jeff Weber, Ayse Birsel, Bibi Seck, Studio 7.5, Applied Minds, Jerome Caruso, Eric Chan, Doug Ball. These designers and others provided the original thinking at the heads of many new trails blazed by Herman Miller throughout our history.
With Gilbert Rhode, we became the first modern American furniture company in the early 1930s. With Charles and Ray Eames, we introduced the Eames lounge chair and ottoman in 1956, an enduring emblem of Herman Miller quality and innovation. With Bob Propst, we transformed the office furniture industry with the first open office system in the 1960s. With Bill Stumpf, we invented ergonomic work seating in the 1970s. With Ayse Birsel, we reinvented office furniture systems to meet the specific needs of "knowledge workers" — and we did it in the late 1990s, long before the term came into vogue.
All of the designers with whom we work today are helping Herman Miller reach our goal of becoming an environmentally sustainable enterprise by the year 2020. Our "Perfect Vision" initiative charts a challenging course, including zero landfill, zero hazardous waste generation, zero air and water emissions from manufacturing, and the use of 100 percent renewable energy. Fueled by plenty of original thinking, we’re already well on our way.
Want to learn more about Herman Miller's design legacy?
Visit Discovering Design.
Want to learn more about balancing work and life?
Check out Jugglezine.