History

Herman Miller (1923)

Herman Miller Inc. is an American office furniture and equipment company founded in 1923 by Dirk Jan DePree. Its headquarters are in Zeeland, Michigan.

The company was then led from 1950 to 1980 by his son, Max DePree, who significantly expanded it. The company’s revenue grew from US$262,000 in 1923 to US$1.74 billion in 2006. The company has been listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol MLKN since 2021.

In the early 1940s, Herman Miller began working with renowned designers such as Alvar Aalto, Don Chadwick, Charles Eames, Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, Paul Lazlo, Isamu Noguchi, Robert Probst, Gilbert Rohde, Gloria Sachs, Don Shepard, and Bill Stumpf. In 1945, the designer and architect George Nelson was appointed design director, a position he held until 1972.

Herman Miller then produced some of the iconic objects of the post-war era: Noguchi’s Coffee Table (1944), the molded plywood and molded plastic chairs by Charles and Ray Eames (1946 and 1950), and George Nelson’s Coconut Chair and Marshmallow Sofa (1955 and 1956). In April 2021,

Herman Miller announced the acquisition of Knoll and is still very active in its sector of activity to this day.