George Nelson

Foreword to the 1948 Herman Miller Collection (excerpt) George Nelson

From a designer's perspective (and this is the only perspective that is relevant to me), Herman Miller is a very fine company. As a company, Herman Miller is indistinguishable from thousands of other companies across America. It's a small company, located in a small town, its manufacturing facilities are adequate but ordinary, and it's run by the owner of the company...

Products must be honest. It's been about 12 years since Herman Miller stopped making vintage reproductions, because designer Gilbert Rohde convinced executives that copying traditional designs was aesthetically dishonest. (I took this with a grain of salt at first, but over the next few years I've learned the truth.)

We decide what we make. Herman Miller has never conducted consumer research or pre-tested products to understand what the market will "approve." If the designers and management like a solution to a particular furniture problem, it will be produced. There is no standard of so-called "public taste." No particular, believed-in way of evaluating the "buying public." The reason so many people are attracted to the freshness of Herman Miller's designs is because the company isn't copying anyone else.