Herman Miller

Herman Miller began as the Star Furniture Company in Zeeland, Michigan, in 1905. In 1923 D.J. De Pree persuaded his father-in-law, Herman Miller, to buy a majority of the shares, and the company took his name. Gilbert Rohde pushed it toward modern furniture in the 1930s, and George Nelson arrived as its first design director in 1945. Charles and Ray Eames joined in 1946, and Herman Miller secured the rights to their molded plywood work the following year. Our design coverage keeps coming back to two pieces from that era. Isamu Noguchi's coffee table, two identical wooden legs under a freeform glass slab, went into production in 1947 as the IN-50, born from a grudge against the decorator T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings. The Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, the 670 and 671, made their television debut on NBC's Home in 1956 and have been built in the United States ever since. The stories track the move from Brazilian rosewood to other veneers, the taller size added in 2008 and how to spot a fake. Later came the Action Office open-plan system in 1968 and the Aeron chair in 1994. Herman Miller bought Knoll in 2021, and the combined company became MillerKnoll. Collectors still check under the seat for the label.