George Nelson

designer based in : ZEELAND, MICHIGAN

the designer

George Nelson was born in 1908 in Hartford, Connecticut. He studied architecture at Yale and went on to study at the American Academy in Rome from 1932 to 1934, where he became familiar with the work of leading advocates of modernism.

In 1935 he joined Architectural Forum and was part of their editorial team until 1944 where he attracted the attention of D.J. DePree, head of Herman Miller, and became Design Director at the firm. He remained at Herman Miller until 1972 and established himself as a symbol of American design. He started George Nelson Associates in 1947 and through his collaborations, created some of the finest icons of mid-century modernism.

When writing about the course of his remarkable 50-year career, George Nelson described a series of creative “zaps”—moments of out-of-the-blue inspiration “when the solitary individual finds he is connected with a reality he never dreamed of.”