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- World Design Day – Celebrating The World’s Best Designers
This year in celebration of World Design Day we are honouring designers of the past and present who have created iconic pieces of furniture and innovative ergonomic designed products to develop the working office into a stylish and smart space.
Many of the designers featured in this blog have created iconic designs that have remained the same since they were first developed.
Charles & Ray Eames
Pictured: Charles & Ray Eames
Charles and Ray Eames are known for their contribution to modern architecture and furniture through the work of the Eames Office. Their relationship with Herman Miller started with moulded plywood chairs in the late 1940s and includes the world-renowned Eames lounge chair. They loved their work, which was a combination of art and science, design and architecture, process and product, style and function. “The details are not details,” said Charles. “They make the product.”
Herman Miller is all about flexible and intelligent design. A case in point is its decision to create the next evolution of Ratio, a market-leading height-adjustable design system.
Since 1905, the pioneering furniture brand has provided solutions that meet the needs of the ‘modern’ worker. Herman Miller creates not only new products that meet the demands of users at home and at work, but also reiterates existing products that already enhance people’s lives.
“The role of the designer is that of a very good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.” - Charles Eames
Bill Stumpf
Pictured : Bill Stumpf
During his lifetime, Stumpf – a key figure in Herman Miller’s transformation into a research-based, problem-solving innovator – received numerous awards for this work. He was named the winner of the 2006 National Design Award in Product Design, an award presented posthumously by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Stumpf died in 2006.
“I enjoy myself, and I do it through design.”- Bill Stumpf
Don Chadwick
Pictured: Don Chadwick
An industrial design student at UCLA in the mid-1950’s, Chadwick’s focus on furniture sharpened after attending a lecture from celebrated designers Charles and Ray Eames. Ten year’s later, he had his own design studio in Los Angeles, a small space above a hardware store, where he spent much of his time trying to promote his ideas to manufacturers. “It started, I believe, in 1972”, as Chadwick puts it, when Herman Miller Paid him a visit. He’s designed and co-designed some of the company’s most recognisable products ever since.
“If you’re not always looking at things and looking at them differently, with an overall curiosity, you’re no longer a designer.” - Don Chadwick
Ward Bennett
Pictured : Ward Bennett
Ward Bennett’s career began at age 13, when he quit school to work in New York’s Garment District. At 16 he went to Europe and continued working in fashion. Bennett began working with Geiger in 1987. Bennett’s first collaboration—a 20-piece collection—was introduced in 1990. In 1993, Geiger acquired Brickel Associates, for whom Bennett had designed more than 150 chairs as their sole designer from the 1960s through the mid-1980s. Recognizing the timeless simplicity and enduring comfort of these designs, Geiger reintroduced several classics from Bennett’s Brickel era.
Bennett died in 2003. Today, he is considered the first American to use industrial materials for home furnishings. He was hailed by the American Institute of Architects for “transforming industrial hardware into sublime objects.” Many his designs are in the permanent collection at MoMA, as well as in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
“I design interiors and furniture and flatware and so forth, but I think the way I live is maybe the most meaningful.” - Ward Bennett
Colebrook Bosson Saunders
Pictured : Peter Bosson
Colebrook Bosson Saunders has been drawing on the varied and complementary skills of its founders Martyn Colebrook (architecture), Peter Bosson (product design and innovation)and Brenda Saunders (furniture design) since its inception in 1990.
Peter and Brenda formed a working practice after meeting at the royal college or Art. During this time a series or ergonomic studies were undertaken in Italy in the Ettore Sottsass’ department of Olivetti. These were the first studies of workplace ergonomics of their kind, leading to the first products that reclaimed desk space for workers. ECC legislation followed in the late 1980’s to compel firms to implement ergonomics for workers.
“New technology doesn’t necessarily mean improvements. What it does mean is getting people working comfortably with the new technology…” - Peter Bosson
Framery Design Team
The Framery design team is a collaborative group of people made up of, internal & external designers from multiple fields of design. Framery refer’s to all their talented designers as the “Framery Design team”,
The most important milestone’s for Framery One’s concept and design path were defined at the very beginning, as Framery pondered how to create a stunning new pod for the market. The arch design became the DNA of Framery One’s design. Framery sought to create a new industry standard with world class quality and lead times –the performance and aesthetics also had to surpass every other product on the market.
Framery One – Taking inspiration from Scandinavian architectural design, the organic round arches, glass on both sides of the pod, and a fixed but height adjustable seat provide a more polished version of Framery’s signature style. It was clear from the beginning of the ideation process that the brand’s design staple needed to be preserved but enhanced to create an eye-catching aesthetic. Each piece inside was customized to fit into Framery One and it is no coincidence that the coat rack, table, screen, and even the smallest pieces that make up the pod also have the same fine-tuned arch shape.
Framery One's Sleek, Sophisticated & subdued colour scheme
In March 2020, the design team wanted to refine the selected color scheme to perfection so that the shades complement one another. Without overlooking even the smallest of design details, every single piece needed to match seamlessly together and within the whole design. After months of selecting the pod colors, materials, and finishes, Framery’s design team did some serious brainstorming in a workshop about the final color shades and material finishes, finetuning them to hit the bullseye. Every detail was carefully selected, including the structure and degree of shine and matte in each part and how they work together.
"Framery One is physically and digitally our dream come true. Nobody knows what the digital ecosystem will enable in the future and we have only just scratched the surface."
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