George Nelson (1908-1986) was an American writer, lecturer, teacher and designer. He is considered one of the founders of American Modernism, along with Charles and Ray Eames.
Although formally trained in architecture, over his career Nelson became known as a furniture designer, industrial designer, interior designer and exhibition designer. He was also an excellent writer and reporter; his series of interviews in the mid-1930s of important European designers (including Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Gio Ponti) was published in Pencil Points and led to a position as an editorial staff writer at Architectural Forum. By 1945 he had become co-managing editor of the magazine. After World War II he began a forty-year association with the Herman Miller furniture company. His own company had a client list of Fortune 500 companies and Nelson continued to write, lecture, travel and design throughout.
[Portions of this biographical sketch adapted from " George Nelson," an essay appearing on the website of the American Institute for Graphic Arts.]
From the guide to the George Nelson & Co., Inc. Records, 1948-1968, 1957-1968, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)
