Nelson Swag Leg Desk by Herman Miller
Design George Nelson™, 1958.
Walnut, laminate top, plastic drawers, chromed steel tubing. Made by Herman Miller®.
A beautiful desk and one that I’ve admired for years. George Nelson made rad things, along with his cohorts at Herman Miller: Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, Isamu Noguchi and Donald Knorr. The above desk is particularly beautiful with its minimal profile, tapering bent legs and perfectly placed color palette.
But the price? $1800.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am fully down with paying a premium for historically important design works. But mid-century Modernism was partially born out of an idealism that hatched during and after World War II, when factories were converted back to civil use after having served the war effort. Break-throughs in production methods, materials and technology cleared the way for mass-production of well-designed objects. All the folks at Herman Miller were on board with the idea of bringing design to the masses. Charles and Ray Eames spent decades trying to get various iterations of their bent plywood chairs into consumer hands for modest prices. George Nelson was a champion of low-cost design up until his death.
So my question: why is this desk – and other items from this period – so expensive? Surely not for the materials, as this isn’t a luxury item hand-made from lemur teeth and sea eel hides. I’m guessing that it costs maybe $100-$200 to produce this piece, I could be wrong. But I doubt the price of production is in any way connected to the selling price. My criticism isn’t aimed at this particular piece of beautifully designed furniture though it was definitely the impetus for this post.
Good design should not have to cost a lot of money. Yes, maybe a premium, but not astronomically high. Furniture and design sellers often talk about Modernism as bringing design to the masses, the great equalizer. Yet the products they sell have price tags far above what your average work schmoe can afford. Ikea understands this, and has made oodles of money knocking off modern and minimal designs and selling them on the cheap, the sacrifice is the production quality. A high percentage of Ikea’s products are essentially disposable and fall apart long before they’ve outlived their usefulness. If it weren’t for the toll that disposable furniture takes on the environment, this wouldn’t be so bad, not all furniture has to last centuries.
Why does good design cost so much?
