George Nelson

George Nelson was one of the founders of American modernism. George Nelson was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1908 and studied architecture at Yale University, where he graduated in 1928. He later went on to receive a bachelor degree in fine arts in 1931. A year later while preparing for the Paris Prize competition, Nelson won the Rome prize with Eliot Noyes, Charles Eames, and Walter B. Ford.

By 1940, George Nelson had drawn popular attention with several innovative concepts. George Nelson introduced the concept of the "family room" in his book Tomorrow's House. George Nelson also pioneered the concept of a built-in storage concept of the "storagewall", a system of storage units that rested on slatted platform benches. Not only was the "storagewall" concept showcased in Life magazine and caused an immediate sensation in the furniture industry. it also attracted the attention of Herman Miller's president D.J. De Pree. De Pree asked Nelson to become the design director at Herman Miller in 1945. Nelson went on and recruited other seminal designers including Ray and Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia, Richard Schultz, Donald Knorr and Isamu Noguchi. Although both Bertoia and Noguchi expressed later on regrets about their involvement, it became a uniquely successful period for the company and for George Nelson. George Nelson went on the develop the Marshmallow Sofa, the Nelson Platform Bench and the first L-shaped desk, a precursor to the present-day workstation.