This, and other interesting facts were learned by all that were in attendance on January 6th of John R. Berry’s Lecture and Book signing, coinciding with the Herman Miller exhibit, at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts. The story goes that in 1923 D.J DePress, wanted to purchase the Michigan based "The Star Furniture Company." And asked his father-in-law, Herman Miller, for a loan. As part of the deal he named the new furniture company Heman Miller.
Chris Upton AIA West Texas chapter president, Shane Danley associate director, and Nick Hines, all from ParkhillSmith&Cooper, took the two hour journey from Midland and met up with the Craig Kinney AIA, Leed AP, Kye B. Franke AIA, James Haynes, and Brooks Wehner of Kinney Franke Architects at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts.
Thru the eyes of Chris Upton:
Thru the Eyes of Nick Hines:
It was a fun drive from Midland to San Angelo and see the sites along the way, San Angelo is a beautiful town with a lot of great architecture. This was my first visit to San Angelo. It was great to meet the gang at Kinney Franke Architects and get to know them a little bit. Their portfolio of work is impressive and it was interesting to drive past the construction site of the Holzman Moss Architects designed Tom Green County Library Project they are partnering on, as well as, the San Angelo Visitors Center which they designed with its distinctive roof and rock garden.
Thru the eyes of Chris Upton:
On January 6th 2011 West Texas had the honor of hearing John Berry author of Herman Miller: The Purpose of Design give a lecture on Herman Miller the company and some of his life experiences while working for Herman Miller. The Presentation was hosted by the San Angelo Museum of Fine Art where an exhibit of Herman Miller’s most notable pieces of furniture is currently on display.
John discussed with a crowd of about 60 people about how Herman Miller worked closely with various prominent designers over the years, such as Charles and Ray Eames, Gilbert Rohde, George Nelson, Alexander Girard, Robert Probst, Steve Frykholm, Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick.
John also discussed his current role as Executive Director of Design West Michigan. This organization promotes design as an economic building block for the local region to brand West Michigan as "Design Centric." He assembled and directs and advisory group of over 50 leading regional and national designers with a membership of over 600 designers. He talked about how an area such as West Texas could really benefit from designers and creative people coming together to discuss how to improve life of the people in the area. It is crucial that designers of all types: Architects, Interior Designers, industrial designers, Landscape, fashion, Engineers, exhibit, Artists, etc. all come together and brainstorm, as collaborative design shapes our environment. About Design West Michigan John said “It’s time for the design disciplines to collectively help demonstrate the value of good design and bring new work and expansion to regional companies. This will involve the region gaining a shared understanding of design and comfort level with non-traditional ways of business planning and measurement. Design is an integral part of the West Michigan economy. And, while there are good local examples of business success through design, there are many more opportunities to expand our regional economy through enhanced use of the full-range of design services.” These words he spoke are also true for West Texas and he challenged us as a region to harness the creativity that is here and direct it towards improving life in our region. Some ways of doing so is to educate non-designers on design thinking, advocate for design evaluation as part of business strategy and become a catalyst for creating a regional design network by encouraging the collaboration between various creative professionals.
Photo of Herman Miller furniture
John also discussed his current role as Executive Director of Design West Michigan. This organization promotes design as an economic building block for the local region to brand West Michigan as "Design Centric." He assembled and directs and advisory group of over 50 leading regional and national designers with a membership of over 600 designers. He talked about how an area such as West Texas could really benefit from designers and creative people coming together to discuss how to improve life of the people in the area. It is crucial that designers of all types: Architects, Interior Designers, industrial designers, Landscape, fashion, Engineers, exhibit, Artists, etc. all come together and brainstorm, as collaborative design shapes our environment. About Design West Michigan John said “It’s time for the design disciplines to collectively help demonstrate the value of good design and bring new work and expansion to regional companies. This will involve the region gaining a shared understanding of design and comfort level with non-traditional ways of business planning and measurement. Design is an integral part of the West Michigan economy. And, while there are good local examples of business success through design, there are many more opportunities to expand our regional economy through enhanced use of the full-range of design services.” These words he spoke are also true for West Texas and he challenged us as a region to harness the creativity that is here and direct it towards improving life in our region. Some ways of doing so is to educate non-designers on design thinking, advocate for design evaluation as part of business strategy and become a catalyst for creating a regional design network by encouraging the collaboration between various creative professionals.
Photo of Herman Miller furniture
Thru the Eyes of Nick Hines:
It was a fun drive from Midland to San Angelo and see the sites along the way, San Angelo is a beautiful town with a lot of great architecture. This was my first visit to San Angelo. It was great to meet the gang at Kinney Franke Architects and get to know them a little bit. Their portfolio of work is impressive and it was interesting to drive past the construction site of the Holzman Moss Architects designed Tom Green County Library Project they are partnering on, as well as, the San Angelo Visitors Center which they designed with its distinctive roof and rock garden.
San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts which the lecture and exhibit was held is a work of art in itself, with a very distinctive roof shape that has an interesting story as told by the Museum Director Howard Taylor, who was very open and accommodating and was great to talk with. It looks somewhat like a covered wagon or a saddle. Mr. Taylor said that during the design of the museum they gave the architects a hard time for being from New York City. It was like the Pace Picante Sauce commercials. When the project was completed Douglas Moss the Project Manager from Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates was asked how they came up with the distinctive roof and a large Jar of Pace Picante Sauce was presented and jokingly given to the director turned sideways which looks surprisingly close to the roof shape of the museum.
John R. Berry is a fascinating gentleman with many amazing stories about working with some of the most influential designers of all time. His book is very well done and he was very gracious to meet and talk with everyone. His lecture was very informative and he had many words of wisdom on Design and collaboration and how organizations are structured.
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