George Nelson Eog
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Steel, Chrome
Vintage 1960s American Modern Cabinets
Wood, Walnut
Vintage 1960s American Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
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Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Desks
Formica, Walnut
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Desks
Aluminum, Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Tables
Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Tables
Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Desks
Chrome
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
Vintage 1950s American Desks and Writing Tables
Wood
Vintage 1950s American Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Credenzas
Walnut, Masonite
Vintage 1960s North American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
Walnut
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Desks
Birch, Walnut
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Credenzas
Aluminum, Steel
20th Century American Credenzas
Aluminum
Mid-20th Century American Desks
Walnut
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Metal
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Desks and Writing Tables
Aluminum, Steel
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Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
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Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Bookcases
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George Nelson for sale on 1stDibs
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 bachelor’s 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 Nelson’s 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.
Nelson’s 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 it’s 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 didn’t mind letting the world know.
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