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room: about
George Nelson
Possessed of one of the most inventive minds of the century, George Nelson
is one of those rare people who can envision what isn't there yet. Nelson
himself has described his creative abilities as a series of "zaps" ? flashes
of inspiration and clarity that he was able to turn into innovative design ideas.
One such "zap!" came in 1942 when Nelson conceived the pedestrian
shopping mall detailed in his "Grass on Main Street" proposal. Soon after,
he pioneered the concept of built-in storage with Storagewall, a system of
storage units that rested on slatted platform benches. The first modular
storage system ever, it was showcased in Life magazine and caused an
immediate sensation in the furniture industry.
In 1946, Nelson became director of design at Herman Miller, a position he
held until 1972. While there, Nelson recruited other seminal modern designers
including Charles Eames and Isamu Noguchi. He also developed his own
designs, including the Marshmallow sofa, the Nelson platform bench and
the first L-shaped desk, a precursor to the present-day workstation. He also
created a series of boldly graphic wall clocks, a series of bubble lamps made
of self-webbing plastic and developed forward looking, occasionally futuristic
concepts such as the "hidden city" of underground buildings designed to
create a "more humane environment.
Nelson felt that designers must be "aware of the consequences of their
actions on people and society and thus cultivate a broad base of knowledge
and understanding." Nelson himself certainly followed this principle. He
was an early environmentalist, one of the first designers to take an interest
in new communications technology and a powerful writer and teacher.
Perhaps influenced by his friend, Buckminster Fuller, Nelson's ultimate
goal as a designer was "to do much more with much less."
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photo by ekapon
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