Nelson started learning about design by enrolling at Yale University in 1924 to study architecture. It was clear early on that he exhibited extreme talents in the field, publishing articles in two magazines at the time while he was still in school: Pencil Points and Architecture. It didn't take long for Nelson to get snatched up by an architectural firm, and in his last year at Yale he was hired as a drafter at the firm Adams and Prentice. It was also found that Nelson was good at writing, and a fter graduating from Yale in 1928 he went on to receive a bachelor’s of fine arts in 1931. Considering a life in academics, Nelson’s life took a change when he won a prestigious architecture prize: the Rome prize.
As the name might suggest, the Rome prize was a year in Rome studying architecture with a large stipend and luxurious accommodations. This fateful year in Rome would prove to be an important one for shaping his career, as he ended up meeting many of the important founders of modernism while in Europe. He would interview all the design pioneers he met while traveling, and would often write articles for the magazine Pencil Points. After his year of Europe he traveled back to the U.S. where he dedicated himself to bringing the ideas of modernism to North America through articles on such designers as Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Gio Ponti. His writing would become so important that he would go on to be an editor at another magazine, Architectural Forum.
Nelson’s design philosophy is part of what made him such a great success: he believed that the work of a designer should be “to better the world…nature is already perfect…man only ruins it when he begins making things that don’t follow the rules of nature.” Nelson continued to write and bring forth these important ideas of modernism through the mid-1940s, when he co-authored a book with Henry Wright called Tomorrow's House. This book would prove to be another important and fateful point in his life. The owner of Herman Miller Furniture Company would read this book and begin a long and fruitful collaboration between Nelson, as well as many of Nelson’s famous designer friends, like Ray and Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia, Richard Schultz, Donald Knorr and Isamu Noguchi.
He’s probably most known for his bubble lamps, but Nelson also designed a number of gorgeous and modern wall clocks through his company George Nelson Associates. His furnitu re designs are also quite recognizable, most notably the Slat Bench in 1946, the Nelson End Table in 1954, the Marshmallow Sofa in 1956 and the Sling Sofa 1964.
As a testament to Nelson’s importance as a designer, many of his designs are still in production today. You can learn more about George Nelson on his website.Photos taken from 1stdibs.com and Wikipedia.com.
