Herman Miller

About

Herman Miller is an American furniture manufacturer that produces office furniture, seating and home furnishings, and it is one of the companies most closely associated with the development of modern furniture in the twentieth century. The company is based in Zeeland, Michigan, and since 2021 it has operated as the founding brand of MillerKnoll, a publicly traded collective of design companies. Its catalogue spans ergonomic task chairs, desks and workstations, systems furniture, tables, storage and a range of residential pieces, many of which are licensed reissues of mid-century designs. The company traces its origins to 1905, when it was established in Zeeland as the Star Furniture Co., a maker of traditionally styled bedroom furniture. The business was renamed the Michigan Star Furniture Company in 1919, and in 1923 Dirk Jan De Pree, who led the firm, and his father-in-law Herman Miller acquired a majority of the shares. The company was renamed the Herman Miller Furniture Company in recognition of Miller, who provided the financing. During the Great Depression the firm came close to failure, and De Pree's decision to move away from reproduction furniture toward modern design — beginning around 1930 with the designer Gilbert Rohde — set the direction the company has followed since. A series of design partnerships shaped that direction. After Rohde, the designer George Nelson became design director in 1945 and brought in other figures whose work defined the company's mid-century output. Among the best known are Charles and Ray Eames, whose work for Herman Miller includes the moulded plywood and plastic chairs and, in 1956, the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman. Other widely recognised pieces from this period include the Noguchi table, designed by the sculptor Isamu Noguchi in 1947, and several designs by George Nelson such as the Marshmallow sofa, the Ball Clock and the Nelson platform bench. The designer Alexander Girard contributed textiles and interiors. Many of these designs remain in production as licensed reissues. Herman Miller has also been influential in the workplace. The Action Office system, developed with the researcher Robert Propst and introduced in 1964, was reconceived in 1968 as Action Office II, an arrangement of movable panels and components that is widely regarded as the forerunner of the open-plan office and the cubicle. In ergonomic seating, the Aeron chair, designed by Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick and launched in 1994, is among the company's most recognised products and helped popularise the mesh task chair. Later seating includes the Embody chair (2008), the Mirra and Cosm chairs developed with Studio 7.5, and the Sayl chair designed by Yves Béhar. In 2021 Herman Miller acquired the furniture company Knoll in a transaction valued at about 1.8 billion US dollars; the deal was announced in April and completed in July 2021, after which the parent company was renamed MillerKnoll. Herman Miller continues as a distinct brand within that group, which also includes Knoll, HAY, Muuto, Geiger and the textile house Maharam, among others. The combined company is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker MLKN. The company describes a long-running environmental programme, stating that it powers its facilities with renewable energy and works toward carbon neutrality, alongside the use of recycled materials and designing products for disassembly and recyclability. Many of its products carry third-party certifications, and the company offers a warranty covering many items for 12 years including parts and labour. Herman Miller serves both contract and residential markets: its products are specified for corporate offices, healthcare and educational settings, and are also sold for home use through its own retail channels, authorised dealers and online. As a manufacturer with more than a century of activity and an archive of widely reproduced designs, Herman Miller occupies a central place in the history of American modern furniture.