Herman Miller.

We had a speaker from the Herman Miller Furniture store come in to our class and give us a brief history on the company. The company is based in Zeeland, Michigan and was founded in 1905. The original name of the company was Michigan Star Furniture Co.; however, the company decided to sell their business and a man named De Pree who worked for Michigan Star Furniture Co. for several years asked his father-in-law to give him the money to purchase the company. Once De Pree aquired the business he named it after his father-in-law, Herman Miller.

The Herman Miller company designs modern furniture for offices as well as residential homes. Some of their most famous furniture includes the aeron chair, equa chair, noguchi table, the marshmallow sofa, and the Eames lounge chair.

Aeron Chair



Marshmallow Chair



Eames Lounge Chair




Herman Miller also strives to be as sustainable as possible. An example of this is when one of their facilities had an issue with paper wasps attacking their employees whenever they went outside, the company could have called an exterminator to spray down the whole place, but instead they hired a bee keeper and brought in honey bees to fend off the paper wasps; this is a "natural" way to get rid of the wasps rather than using poisons. The honey bees are also shipped to warmer climates in the winter time so that they can enjoy warmer climates while it is cold in Michigan over the winter season and brought back when the weather warms up.