Millerknoll

Sam Hecht and Kim Colin of London’s Industrial Facility were named Herman Miller creative directors on 4 June 2026 — the first holders of that title in the company’s 121-year history, ending a 54-year gap since George Nelson stood down as director of design at Herman Miller in 1972. The appointment was disclosed the same week MillerKnoll chief executive Andi Owen confirmed her 30 June retirement after eight years, and it answers — for the first time since the Eames Office — the question this piece sets out to map: who, in any given era, has decided what Herman Miller looks like? The shape of the answer is uneven. One design director from 1947 to 1972; thirty-four years of ergonomic R&D credited to Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick; thirty years of a multi-studio collaborator portfolio with no central voice; and now, finally, a named creative directorate in a public furniture company that for most of its history did not believe it needed one. ...