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Reviewed by:
  • George Nelson: The Design of Modern Design
  • Roy R. Behrens
George Nelson: The Design of Modern Design by Stanley Abercrombie. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A., 2000. ISBN: 0-262-51116-9.

George Nelson (1908-1986) is nearly always listed as an important American industrial designer, but it may be more factual to think of him as a writer and design director. While at Herman Miller, Inc., from 1946 to 1965, he was instrumental in the production and distribution of furniture by Charles and Ray Eames. At the same time, as principal of his own New York firm, he oversaw the development of furniture, office storage systems and exhibitions for General Electric, Chrysler Corporation, Steelcase and Olivetti. The two most famous products with which his name is commonly linked, the 1950 Ball clock (described here as a cross between the starburst and an asterisk) and the 1957 Marshmallow sofa (which failed, as someone at Miller explained, because "not too many people wanted to choose which cheek to place on which marshmallow"), may in truth have been developed by Irving Harper, a gifted staff designer. Based on substantial, thorough research, this illustrated biography of Nelson is nevertheless entertaining and highly readable, in part because the author's text is clearly and fluently written, but also because of the numerous quotes from Nelson's writings, along with comments by his friends, employees and clients. Included in the appendices are a chronology of Nelson's work, a biographical chronology, and a major bibliography.

(Reprinted by permission from Ballast Quarterly Review, Vol. 17, No. 1, Fall 2001.) [End Page 337]

Roy R. Behrens
2022 X Ave., Dysart, IA 52224, U.S.A. E-mail: <ballast@netins.net>.
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