MillerKnoll Unveils Landmark Archives Space: A Living Legacy of Modern Design
MillerKnoll announces the opening of its archives, a 12,000-square-foot space located at its Michigan Design Yard headquarters in Holland. The one-of-a-kind facility serves as a new permanent home for the brands’ archival collections, with holdings of over one million total objects. Featuring a selection of these works from Herman Miller, Knoll, and other brands of the MillerKnoll collective, the research and exhibition facility offers a compelling look into the evolution of modern design.
The archives facility is organized into three key areas: an exhibition space, open storage, and a reading room, designed for both internal and external researchers. Serving as a space to learn from and be inspired by, the archives is a critical resource for MillerKnoll associates as well as architecture and design partners, curators, and academics to experience the brands’ influential history, and find inspiration for future products and solutions.
Manufacturing Modern exhibition and open storage
Amy Auscherman, Director of Archives and Brand Heritage at MillerKnoll commented:
“Bringing together the Herman Miller and Knoll archival collections has been an incredible privilege. It has been the opportunity of a lifetime to collaborate across brands to unite our shared history, preserve our culture of innovation, and ensure these important design legacies remain accessible for generations to come.”
MillerKnoll collaborated with the New York-based design consultancy Standard Issue to bring the space to life.
The Archives Space – Exhibition, Open Storage, Reading Room
Manufacturing Modern Exhibition
The inaugural exhibition ‘Manufacturing Modern’ examines the shared histories of Knoll and Herman Miller, and features a selection of the iconic designs created by the visionaries who shaped the companies – Florence Knoll, George Nelson, Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, Harry Bertoia, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer. Through these objects and corresponding didactics, the exhibition communicates a history of the beginnings of Modernism, the early 20th century movement whose guiding principles drove both Herman Miller and Knoll to produce designs that would prove fundamental to the history of modern design.
Manufacturing Modern Exhibition
Chief Creative and Product Officer Ben Watson adds:
“The debut of the MillerKnoll Archives invites our communities to experience design history – and imagine its future – in one dynamic space. The ability to not only understand how iconic designs came to be, but how design solutions evolved over time, is a never-ending source of inspiration.”
Open Storage
Open storage
Over 300 pieces of modern furniture design are on display, with both well-known original works from Knoll and Herman Miller and contemporary designs from other MillerKnoll brands like HAY, Geiger, and NaughtOne. The open storage racks trace the evolution of modern furniture from the 1920s to today. Standout pieces include a rare prototype of the Knoll Womb® Chair, gifted by Eero Saarinen to his mother, Loja Saarinen; groundbreaking Gilbert Rohde designs for Herman Miller, first showcased at the 1933 World’s Fair; early office furniture designs by Florence Knoll; and a lamp and rocking stool created by Isamu Noguchi for Knoll, among others.
A rare prototype of the Knoll Womb® Chair, gifted by Eero Saarinen to his mother, Loja Saarinen
Complementing the furniture collection, wall-mounted art racks display two-dimensional works, including photography by Charles and Ray Eames, advertisements by Herbert Matter and George Nelson, and posters by Lella and Massimo Vignelli. Together, these pieces illustrate a rich visual narrative of modern design’s impact.
Aeron Chair prototype, Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick, 1994 (Herman Miller)
Grid wall featuring framed archival graphic design and advertisements from Herman Miller and Knoll. Large Knoll posters from the exhibition, Knoll au Louvre, 1972.
Reading Room
Adjacent to the open storage, the reading room features an array of exceptional archival materials including correspondence, photography, drawings, and textiles. With over 250 linear feet of archival documents, significant materials include memoranda detailing the development of George Nelson’s first collection for Herman Miller; design and engineering drawings for classic products including the Eames® Lounge Chair and Ottoman for Herman Miller; and original “paste-ups” created by Florence Knoll featuring layouts for her well-known interiors.
Reading Room
Future Tours
Exclusive tours will be available on a selection of days in July and August in partnership with the Cranbrook Art Museum, and in October in partnership with Docomomo. Additional information on tour tickets is available via the Cranbrook Art Museum.
Image Credit: Nicholas Calcott for MillerKnoll
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