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About the Item
Handsome vintage MCM (a.k.a.) Mid-Century Modern 5476 lounge chair designed by George Nelson for Herman Miller. Comprised of a walnut frame and fuchsia fabric. Beautiful condition, keeping in mind that this is vintage and not new so will have signs of use and wear. It is in wonderful, restored condition, having been refinished and reupholstered. It still retains some warm age patina. Please see photos and zoom in for details. We attempt to portray any imperfections. Circa, 1950s.
This is an ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC mid-century modern 5476 lounge chair by George Nelson for Herman Miller!!!! Yes, you heard that right!! It is comprised of a phenomenal warm walnut frame with a floating seat and back, an apron under the seat, lovely, angled arms, and it wears a FABULOUS fuchsia fabric. This awesome lounge chair has been in our long-lost storage for quite a few years, and we have just recently had the time to restore it to its original beauty. And It. Is. GORGEOUS!!! Although it is not marked, we have authenticated it through the George Nelson Foundation. It would be wonderful in the corner of your bedroom, next to a brilliant floor lamp in the sitting room, across from the sofa in your living room, or next to an accent table in the family room. Its super comfortable, versatile enough to blend in with many dcor styles, and bursting with mid-century modern MAGNIFICENCE!!!
George Nelson, designer, architect, and author was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1908. He studied at Yale earning a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in 1928 and 1931 respectively. He also studied at the Catholic University in Washington DC where he won the Rome Prize which may have been the turning point in his life. While there he met and interviewed 12 leading architects of the time including Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Gio Ponti, and Walter Gropius. These interviews were published in the magazine Pencil Points. Then as associate editor of Architecture Forum and Fortune magazines Nelsons writing drew the attention of D. J. DePree, president of Herman Miller, resulting in Nelson creating his first design for Herman Miller in 1945 and subsequently becoming their Design Director in 1947. While at Herman Miller Nelson was involved in the design of hundreds of furniture pieces and recruited iconic design talents including Isamu Noguchi and Charles and Ray Eames. George Nelson also launched a studio in New York to design furniture, architecture, graphics, and exhibitions for clients of the likes of General Electric, Olivetti, Abbott, and more. The studio went by various names, but it always included incredible designers such as George Tscherny, Gordon Chadwick, Ettore Sottsass, Michael Graves, and Arthur Drexler, to name a few. Many landmark designs came from this man and his studio. George Nelson passed away in New York in 1986 at the age of 77.
Herman Miller started life as Star furniture Co. in Zeeland, Michigan in 1905, a producer of high-quality furniture. Becoming Michigan Star Furniture Co in 1919, and then in 1923, when long time employee Dirk Jan De Pree and his father-in-law purchased 51% of the company stock, it was renamed Herman Miller Furniture Company. And remained so until the 1960s when it became Herman Miller, Inc. Until the 1930s they produced only traditional wood furniture, but the Great Depression caused a need for change, and they hired modernist Gilbert Rohde who took the company in a new successful direction. Upon Rohdes death in 1944 he was replaced by none other than the renowned George Nelson. Working with the likes of not only Charles and Ray Eames but Isamu Noguchi, Alexander Girard, and Robert Propst, to name just a few, Nelson led Herman Miller to became one of the finest names in furniture and design.
Iconic designer and manufacturer, considerable comfort, and THIS COLOR!!!! We are in LOVE with this George Nelson 5476 Lounge Chair for Herman Miller surely you are too? Well, what are you waiting for? Make it YOURS!!!!
Size
Height: – 31 Inches
Width: – 27.25 Inches
Depth: – 32 Inches
Seat Height: – 14.5 Inches
Arm Height: – 18.5 Inches
Inside Seat Width: – 22.5 Inches
Inside Seat Depth: -21 Inches
Inside Back Height: – 20 Inches
Weight: – 31 Inches
Boxed Size:
Height: – 35 Inches
Width: – 31 Inches
Depth: – 36 Inches
Weight: – 40 PoundsCreator: Herman Miller (Maker),George Nelson (Designer)Dimensions: Height: 31 in (78.74 cm)Width: 27.25 in (69.22 cm)Depth: 32 in (81.28 cm)Seat Height: 14.5 in (36.83 cm)Style: Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)Materials and Techniques: Fabric,WalnutPlace of Origin: United StatesPeriod: Mid-20th CenturyDate of Manufacture: circa Mid-20th CenturyCondition: GoodRefinished. Wear consistent with age and use. It is in fabulous vintage condition having been refinished and reupholstered. It still retains some warm age patina. Please see photos.Seller Location: Topeka, KSReference Number: Seller: 414-SEA-2241stDibs: LU1873315903222Shop All George Nelson
George Nelson
Architect, designer, and writer George Nelson was a central figure in the mid-century American modernist design movement; and his thoughts influenced not only the furniture we live with, but also how we live.
Nelson came to design via journalism and literature. Upon receiving his bachelors degree in architecture from Yale in 1931, he won the Prix de Rome fellowship, and spent his time in Europe writing magazine articles that helped bring stateside recognition to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Gio Ponti, Le Corbusier and other canonical modernist architects.
In the 1940s, Nelson wrote texts that suggested such now-commonplace ideas as open-plan houses, storage walls and family rooms. D.J. De Pree, the owner of the furniture maker Herman Miller, was so impressed by Nelson that in 1944 following the sudden death of Gilbert Rohde, who had introduced the firm to modern design in the 1930s he invited Nelson to join the company as its design director. There Nelsons curatorial design talents came to the fore.
To Herman Miller he brought such eminent creators as Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, and the textile and furniture designer Alexander Girard. Thanks to a clever contract, at the same time as he directed Herman Miller he formed a New York design company, George Nelson Associates, that sold furniture designs to the Michigan firm. Nelson’s studio also sold designs for clocks to the Howard Miller Clock Company, a manufacturer that was initially part of Herman Miller before it became an offshoot that was helmed by Howard Miller, D.J. De Pree’s brother-in-law.
Nelsons New York team of designers (who were rarely individually credited) would create such iconic pieces as the Marshmallow sofa, the Coconut chair, the Ball clock, the Bubble lamp series and the many cabinets and beds that comprise the sleek Thin-Edge line.
For dedicated collectors, as well as for interior designers who look beyond the look, there is a cool factor inherent to vintage pieces from George Nelson and others. Nelson was in on it from the start, and its valuable to have a piece that was there with him.
But still, as is evident from the offerings from dealers on 1stDibs, in any of the designs, in any iteration whose manufacture Nelson oversaw and encouraged, there are shining elements of lightness, elegance, sophistication and a little bit of swagger. George Nelson felt confident in his ideas about design and didnt mind letting the world know.
Shop All Herman Miller
Herman Miller
No other business of its kind did more than the Herman Miller Furniture Company to introduce modern design into American homes. Working with legendary designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson and Alexander Girard, the Zeeland, Michigan-based firm fostered some of the boldest expressions of what we now call mid-century modern style. In doing so, Herman Miller produced some of the most beautiful, iconic and, one can even say, noblest chairs, sofas, tables and other furniture ever.
Founded in 1923, Herman Miller was originally known for grand historicist bedroom suites: heavily ornamented wood furniture that appealed to a high-minded, wealthier clientele. The company named for its chief financial backer began to suffer in the early 1930s as the Great Depression hit, and D.J. De Pree, the companys CEO, feared bankruptcy. In 1932, aid came in the form of Gilbert Rohde, a self-taught furniture designer who had traveled widely in Europe, absorbing details of the Art Deco movement and other modernist influences. After persuading De Pree that the growing middle class required smaller, lighter household furnishings, Rohde set a new course for Herman Miller, creating sleek chairs, tables and cabinetry that were the essence of the Streamline Moderne style.
Rohde died suddenly in 1944. The following year, De Pree turned to George Nelson, an architect who had written widely about modern furniture design. Under Nelsons leadership, Herman Miller would embrace new technologies and materials and audacious biomorphic forms.
Some of the pieces the company produced are now emblems of 20th century American design, including the Eames lounge chair and ottoman and Nelsons Marshmallow sofa and Coconut chair. Such instantly recognizable furnishings have become timeless staples of a modernist dcor; striking, offbeat notes in traditional environments.
Find a range of vintage Herman Miller office chairs, desks, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
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