Cooper Hewitt says...
George Nelson is one of the most influential figures in American post-war modernism. After studying architecture at Yale University, Nelson was awarded a Rome Prize. During his two years there he conducted interviews with leading European modernists—Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius—which were published in the magazine Pencil Points, establishing Nelson as a voice that would shape design thinking in the coming decades. After returning to the US, Nelson taught architecture at Columbia University, and became associate editor of Architecture Forum. He was invited to design his first collection for Herman Miller in 1945, and was named design director in 1947. Over the course of his long association with Herman Miller, Nelson designed dozens of now iconic of pieces of furniture, and also re-designed the company’s corporate identity—logo, catalogues, signage, even hang tags. He also invited collaboration with designers like Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, and Isamu Noguchi. Nelson developed his own architecture, graphic design, industrial design and exhibition projects in his New York City studio, George Nelson & Associates. In addition to his large body of design work, Nelson continued to write, producing numerous books and over 150 magazine articles.
