Problems of Design by George Nelson

About the Item

First edition of George Nelson's Problems of Design, published by Whitney Publications in 1957. An important consideration of the topic by one of America's most significant and influential mid-century designers, who was also one of America’s most significant and influential editors and writers. 26 essays in all, taken from a variety of magazines and other sources. Featured essays include "Obsolescence," "The Designer in the Modern World," ‘Good Design What is it For,” "Prefabrication," and "Notes on the New Subscape." Square 8vo, 203 pages, hardcover with pictorial dust jacket, replete with black-and-white illustrations. A foundational text for postwar American “Good Design” and a handsome production itself. From the library of Denis C. Schmiedeke, architect and architectural historian, with his name neatly written on the FFE.

Creator:
George Nelson (Author)
Dimensions:
Height: 8.75 in (22.23 cm)Width: 8.75 in (22.23 cm)Depth: 0.75 in (1.91 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Paper
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1950-1959
Date of Manufacture:
1957
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. Minor fading. Light rubbing, bumping and chipping to dj with sun toning to the spine. Contents clean and bright. An overall lovely and collectible copy of this important work.
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU828540617752

Shop 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 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.