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Herman Miller launched a design series [ “Why Design” ] 10 September. Here’s there the official announcement:

At Herman Miller design is the language we use to ask questions and seek answers to the problems our customers face. The design process is a journey into the unknown—or as George Nelson once quipped, “I have never met a designer who was retained to keep things the same as they were.” Before we decide what we do and how we do it, we like to begin by asking the question “Why?” In Why Design, a new video series, we explore the world through the eyes of our designers, and share something of why we value their point of view.

This film ( below ) focuses on London-based industrial designer Sam Hecht and architect Kim Colin, who partnered to form Industrial Facility. Their work is marked by a rigorous approach that seeks to render the complex more simple, and the simple more elegant. Hecht and Colin’s products are minimal, functional, and attuned to the world in which we live.

“If you’re working in an environment which doesn’t necessarily work very well (Sam is referring here to a chaotic London), it’s a great enviroment to try and make things work well.”



“I go to the top of Primrose Hill as much as possible to get this view of contrast. In my mind you’re not looking at the fine details, you’re looking at a big world.” ~Kim

the model shop shelves are littered with micro-size prototypes

Each Monday morning, from September 10th through October 29th, Herman Miller will launch a new designer profile at Why Design. The series includes:

9.10.12 – Yves Béhar – “Surfing Is Like
Improvisational Jazz”

9.17.12 – Don Chadwick – “The Camera Becomes an Extension of Your
Eyes”

9.24.12 – Ayse Birsel – “Your Life Is Your Most Important Project”

10.1.12 – Irving Harper – “Paper Is a Versatile Medium”

10.8.12 – Gianfranco Zaccai – “Great Food Should Be Like Great Design”

10.15.12 – Studio 7.5 – “Design by Its Nature Is Collaborative”

10.22.12 – Steve Frykholm – “It’s the Breaks That Allow My Mind to Refresh”

10.29.12 – Sam Hecht + Kim Colin – “We Need Contrast and Tension to Be Able to Create”

Accompanying each video is a series of candid photographs from the designers’ daily lives, offering a glimpse into their world and thought processes, and a profile of their design work for Herman Miller and beyond.

kim colin and sam hecht