Herman Miller Nelson 48" Wide Platform Bench designed by George Nelson
Multipurpose bench with simple, spare lines has become a collector's item for use in a living room, library, bedroom, or home office. Also available in 60" and 72" versions to better fit your space.
This solid maple bench has a slatted, clear coat maple top and an ebonized base with metal leveling glides.
14" h x 48" w x 18.5" d
Smart and Strong Solid maple. Slats are spaced to let air and light through. A clear-coat finished seat two ebonized legs.
Finger-jointed legs.
Multiple Uses A bench. For seating. platform for display of artwork, plants, and nick-nacks. A low table for magazines, candy, a stereo, TV, or other items.
Design Story Introduced in 1946 the Nelson platform bench was part of George Nelson's first collection for Herman Miller and still stands as a benchmark of modern design. Like much of Nelson's work, the platform bench has clean, rectilinear lines, reflecting his architectural background and his insistence on what he calls ''honest'' design--that is, making an honest visual statement about an object's purpose.
As presented in the 1948 Herman Miller furniture catalog, the platform bench ''is primarily a high base for deep and shallow cases, but it also serves as a low table for extra seating.'' The 1955 catalog states that the bench ''has proved to be one of the most flexible and useful units in the collection.'' The bench was reintroduced in 1994.
Herman Miller is an industry leader in the integration of cutting edge technology to furniture and other household items to make everyday life more comfortable, convenient, and stylish. Herman Miller stands out at the forefront of such fields as ergonomic technologies, environmentally friendly manufacturing processes, and customizable furniture items.
In addition to producing some of the most outstanding office furniture in the world, Herman Miller has also taken on the responsibility of manufacturing some of the most celebrated furniture designs by some of the world's most famous designs. These "modern classics" include works by Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, and Isamu Noguchi. Herman Miller celebrates these famous mid-century designers' works through its extraordinarily precise manufacturing techniques and industry-leading green production processes.
Herman Miller is a global company with operations, sales offices, dealers, and licensees in more than 40 countries in North America, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, serving customers virtually anywhere in the world. Herman Miller is headquartered in Zeeland, Michigan, while manufacturing facilities are located in the U.S., China, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
George Nelson 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." It was these zaps that would lead to the creation of some of the most original furniture designs of the 20th century- including the Coconut Chair and the Platform Bench.
An early zap came in the 1930s, when he was an architectural student in Rome. Before returning home, an idea struck him: He would travel Europe and interview leading modern architects, hoping to get the articles published in the U.S. He succeeded, and in the process introduced the U.S. design community to the European avant-garde. This set in motion a sequence of what he called "lucky" career breaks that were really the inevitable outcomes of his brilliance as a designer, teacher, and author.
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