Above: The ‘Sunflower / Plywood’ wall clock designed by Irving Harper in 1958. Photo: George Nelson Foundation
Architect, designer, teacher, and author George Nelson was a key figure in shaping the Modern American design landscape. In 1947, shortly after Nelson began his own design practice, his office began creating designs for the Howard Miller Clock Company. The breadth and range of these seemingly countless numbers of clocks have become icons of the age – from the playful ‘Ball’ clock to the graceful ‘Sunflower’ clock – with hundreds more being produced. Here are just a handful of the clocks designed by George Nelson & Associates, from designers including Irving Harper, George Mulhauser, Robert Brownjohn, Don Chadwick, Bill Renwick, Suzanne Sekey, John Svezia, Ernest Farmer, Tobias O’Mara, George Tscherney, Lance Wyman, John Pile, and Lucia DeRespinis.
Just a handful of the hundreds of clocks designed by George Nelson & Associates. Click on image for full view
Born in Hartford, Connecticut Nelson came to architecture purely by chance after one day taking shelter from a rainstorm in Yale University’s Architecture School. Intrigued by the student works on display Nelson decided this was his calling. After winning the Rome Prize, which provided him with a two year stipend to study at the American Academy in Rome and from 1932 to 1934 he established himself as a skilled writer and interviewed noted European architectural luminaries such as Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Gio Ponti.
George Nelson and friend in his Jaguar XK-120, early 1950’s. Photo: George Nelson Foundation
The Herman Miller designers with D.J. De Pree, assembled for the exhibition The Design Process at Herman Miller, 1975, in the Walker Art Center. In the foreground, left to right: Robert Probst, Alexander Girard, George Nelson, D. J. De Pree, Ray and Charles Eames. Photo: George Nelson Foundation
Nelson with camera under the fiberglass umbrellas of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, 1959. Photo: George Nelson Foundation
Upon returning to the United States Nelson found work as an associate editor of Architecture Forum and Fortune magazines and it was through his writing that he came to the attention of D.J. De Pree, president of the Michigan-based furniture manufacturer Herman Miller. Designing his first collection in 1945 and appointed design director in 1947, Nelson quickly expanded his purview and transformed the company, a mutually beneficial relationship that would last decades.
George Nelson with Charles Eames, 1950’s Photo: George Nelson Foundation
George Nelson at the Rome Academy, 1933. Photo: George Nelson Foundation
George Nelson (1908 – 1986) Photo: George Nelson Foundation
