15 Herman Miller Projects That Have Changed Our Way of Living

One of the furniture lines for the 1933 Chicago World's Fair was designed by Gilbert Rohde, the company's first in-house modernist designer (previously, the company produced more traditional furniture lines). The series was based on his "grouping principle" that made storage and dresser units all the same shape and height so that they could be concentrated uniformly on a single wall. At the time, traditional dressers provided different shapes and sizes for men and women, so this was a marked contrast and ended up catapulting the company onto the world stage. (No. 3319 Group bedroom chests displayed in the Design for Living House, 1933, Century of Progress exposition, Chicago World’s Fair.)