Herman Miller Targets Office Nomads With Design Challenge
Jot that office product idea down now: It could be produced by the same furniture manufacture behind the Eames lounge chair, Marshmellow sofa, and Noguchi table.
Herman Miller
has teamed up with Chicago-based firm
Unbranded Designs
to open-source ideas from any designer
—
from the established to the freshly minted
—
for its next round of contemporary office furniture.
With the design challenge,
“Designing for the New Office Nomads,”
Herman Miller aims to invigorate its furniture manufacturing design process and uncover never before seen talent. The focus is the modern office space and the essential gear it requires: “Consider the mobile worker and define a concept to facilitate individual work in a shared work environment,” reads the brief.
Both an open and juried feedback process will be conducted on submissions, accepted through October 22, with an early critique deadline of October 6. The winner, announced November 21, will earn a $10,000 cash prize and product royalties—and join the ranks of illustrious talents Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Isamu Noguchi, and Yves Béhar. Two runners-up will take home Herman Miller furniture.
“At Herman Miller we believe that there are talented designers all over the world capable of delivering inspiring solutions to challenging problems,” says Gary Smith, vice president, product design and exploration at Herman Miller. “With Unbranded Designs’ platform, we have an exciting and new way to connect with this talent and share our core values around design.”