George Nelson
George Nelson (1908-1986) was an extremely influential industrial designer, writer and thinker whose designs are as popular today as perhaps they’ve ever been. Educated in architecture at Yale University in the 1920s, Nelson was a prolific writer on design. He wrote for Architectural Forum and Interiors and published the top-drawer books Tomorrow’s House, How to See: A Guide to Reading Our Man-Made Environment, and Building a New Europe: Portraits of Modern Architects. More important than his writing, however, was his work as an industrial designer. He had a close relationship with the Herman Miller furniture company, for which he served as creative director, which produced his famous works such as the bubble lamp, marshmallow sofa, swag leg desk and dozens of clocks. In 1959 he worked on the exhibition design of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, home of the famous “Kitchen Debate” between then US Vice President Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev. Nelson’s legacy lives on now and he has come to define mid-century American design like few others.
