MillerKnoll's fresh archive offers a heaven for design enthusiasts.
Merging Herman Miller and Knoll Inc. four years ago to form the colossal MillerKnoll was nothing short of a game-changer.
It's like comparing Coke and Pepsi or the Mets and the Yankees, says Amy Auscherman, MillerKnoll's director of archives and brand heritage.
With an astounding $1.8 billion merger, two titans of American furniture design combined their forces, bringing a galaxy of brands such as Design Within Reach, Hay, Maharam under one roof. That's a helluva lot of furniture and design history - a history that the newly formed MillerKnoll archive, unveiled today in Zeeland, Michigan, is keen to highlight.
The 12,000-square-foot facility, designed by New York-based firm Standard Issue, serves as a homage to design icons like George Nelson, Florence Knoll, Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, and Marcel Breuer. Simultaneously, it offers spaces for special exhibitions, scholarship, and product development.
According to Auscherman, the archive isn't just a storage yard; it's a celebration of the furniture collection and a space where people can engage with the archive.
"Stories come to life when you put it all together," adds MillerKnoll's chief creative and product officer, Ben Watson. "Opening the aperture of who these collections are available to is a powerful thing."
Sifting through decades of history, the company archivists had a mountain of items-thousands-to scrutinize. Herman Miller's existing library, for instance, housed not only furnishings but records that include everything from written correspondence between the Eames and former CEO Max De Pree to documentation about the development of specific designs.
"It's messy before it's clean, right?" says Watson. "To know what you have, you actually have to get it out and look at it."
Each item received a condition report, digital logging, and a light restoration, if necessary. Even a gleeful remark about buying a HVAC museum-quality vacuum slipped out.
In the end, Auscherman and her team selected approximately 300 pieces of furniture to display, spanning holdings of roughly 2,000 items, presenting pieces from as early as the 1920s up until today-including creations from Frank Gehry, Maya Lin, Cini Boeri, Gae Aulenti, the Eameses, and Isamu Noguchi. A special exhibition, "Manufacturing Modern," delves into the shared DNA between the two companies and the evolution of modern American furniture production.
The archive will be open to the public on selected days this summer, partnering with the Cranbrook Art Museum, and will also be accessible to design students on appointment basis. MillerKnoll's product team and collaborators will also have access to the archive, whether they're working on re-issues or designing something entirely new. Ultimately, company employees say, the new facility boldly links the dots between past and present.
"It's easy to think of the archives as historical – the good old days, but it's also an active process of collecting," says Watson. "There were many chapters before us, there will be chapters after us."
The newly formed MillerKnoll archive, unveiled today in Zeeland, Michigan, serves not only as a storage facility but also as a celebration of design icons and a space for engagement with the archive, blending the past and present lifestyles. As part of the home-and-garden sector, the 12,000-square-foot facility houses furniture pieces, spanning from the 1920s up until today, showcasing creations from distinguished designers like Charles and Ray Eames and Cini Boeri.
