Niels Diffrient

Niels Diffrient Meeting (6 September 1928-8 June 2013) was an American industrial designer . Diffrient dealing Mainly on Ergonomic seating, and his musts well Berninahaus designs are the Freedom and Liberty chairs, Manufactured at Human Scale .

Biography

Human Scale’s Freedom Chair

Diffrient was born in 1928 in a farmhouse near Star, Mississippi . [1]

During the Great Depression his family Relocated to Detroit , where Diffrient attended Cass Technical High School . Hey dan attended Wayne State University , and finally Cranbrook Academy of Art , where he RECEIVED a Bachelor of Fine Arts in design and architecture and excelled as an outstanding student recovery the First Medal in Design three of his four years there.

While in Italy on a Fulbright Scholarship in 1954, Diffrient went to work in the studio or Marco Zanuso , where he assisted with the design of an award-winning Borletti sewing machine.

Upon Arriving back in the United States in 1955, Diffrient joined Dreyfuss Associates in hun Pasadena offices, and spent the next few decades revolutionizing American industrial design through his development of interiors and corporate identity for American Airlines planes, the landmark Princess telephone , the Polaroid SX -70 camera and tractor seats for John Deere . [2] In 1980, after 25 years with Henry Dreyfuss Associates, Diffrient left to start his own independent practice, Establishing a design studio in Ridgefield, Connecticut welke he shared with his wife, tapestry artist Helena Hernmarck . [3]

In his career, welke has now lasted over a half century, Diffrient designed everytime type of equipment, as well as computers , exhibits, trucks, airplane interiors and corporate identity programs. He has ook leg Broadly published in the field of design and human factors , must notably as co-author of the three-volume publication, Human Scale, in 1974 and 1981. He is credited with pioneering the use of ergonomics , or what he called human factors engineering , in dozens of office furniture designs. [2]

Additionally, Niels spent time as assistant Professor of Design at UCLA for eight years and was a visiting critic at the Yale University School of Architecture for two years.

Articles about im and his work port Appeared in Time Magazine, Fortune, Business Week and The New York Times to name a few.

Diffrient mayest on 8 June 2013 at his home in Ridgefield, Connecticut . [4]

Awards

In the field of furniture design, must notably Ergonomic seating, Niels has won a total of 24 awards, zoals two Best of Show and 10 Gold and Top awards. Diffrient holds morethan 46 design and utility patents on furniture designs in America and ABROAD, and his many receptacles include the ID (magazine) Top 40 Design Innovators of 1996, the 1996 Chrysler Award for Innovation, the Smithsonian’s 2002 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Product Design, and the 2005 Legend Award from contract magazine. [5] In 2007, Forbes .com named Diffrient the “granddaddy of the Ergonomic revolution” and one or at “tastemakers” in the field of industrial design. [6] Diffrient is ook een Honorary Royal Designer for Industry , awarded by the Royal Society of Arts and Industry, [7] London. Lifetime Contribution to Design Award, FX Magazine International Interior Design Awards, 2012.

Products designed by Niels Diffrient

  • Diffrient World Chair ( Human Scale ) 2009
  • Liberty Chair ( Human Scale ) 2004
  • Diffrient Task and Work Light ( Human Scale ), 2002
  • Freedom Chair ( Human Scale ), 1999
  • Flexible Workspace Furniture System ( AI ) 1998
  • Helena Chair and Chair Jefferson (SunarHauserman), 1984
  • Diffrient Chair ( Knoll ), 1979
  • John Deere tractors ( Henry Dreyfuss )
  • Borletti Sewing Machine (Marco Zanuso)
  • Confessions of a generalist (generalist Ink, LLC)

Selected Bibliography

Diffrient, Niels. Confessions of a generalist. Danbury, Conn .: generalist Ink, LLC, 2012. Print.

Diffrient, Niels. Human Scale: Manual . Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1974. Print.

Diffrient, Niels, Mildred S. Friedman, Joan Bardagjy, and Nicholas Polites. Dimensions of Experience: Understanding and Measuring Human Experience in the Designed Environment . Minneapolis, Minn: Walker Art Center, 1975. Print.

Lutz, Brian. Eero Saarinen: Furniture for Everyman . New York: Pointed Leaf Press, 2012. Print.

Pedersen, Martin C. “Niels Diffrient.” Metropolis: Architecture Design 32.8 (2013): 88. Biography Reference Bank (HW Wilson) . Web. 10 Dec. 2015.

References

  1. Jump up^ contractmagazine.com,Human Factor: A tribute to Niels Diffrient, Accessed July 19, 2007.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b Dorris, Jesse (20 June 2013). “Remembering the Genius or Niels Diffrient” . Interior Design . Retrieved 22 October 2013 .
  3. Jump up^ Blake, Peter (1994). “Diffrient / Hernmarck”. Interior Design . 65 (10): 140.
  4. Jump up^ Yardley, William (16 June 2013). “Niels Diffrient, Industrial Designer Who Blended Form and Function, Dies at 84” . The New York Times . Retrieved 12 September 2013 .
  5. Jump up^ http://www.contractmagazine.com/contract/index.jsp
  6. Jump up^ http://www.humanscale.com/about/news.cfm?newsid=70
  7. Jump up^ http://www.rsa.org.uk/index.asp