Business
Herman Miller Exclusive Manufacturer of the National Museum of Norway's Competition Chair Design Winner "Portrait"
Portrait Pays Homage to the Spirit of Norwegian Design, Past and Present OSLO, Norway, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With pieces featured in collections
About this update from Millerknoll, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Portrait Pays Homage to the Spirit of Norwegian Design, Past and Present\n\n\nOSLO, Norway, Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With pieces featured in collections around the world, Herman Miller (NASDAQ: MLHR) is no stranger to museums. This month, however, marked the start of a new chapter with a look at the brand's first ever chair specifically designed for a museum. At the 2021 Designer's Saturday event in Oslo, Norway, attendants were invited to take a sneak peek into the country's much-anticipated National Museum (officially opening June 2022) while also getting a chance to see the Portrait Chair, designed by Norwegian designer Andreas Engesvik and exclusively manufactured by Herman Miller, in the space it was originally designed for.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \nThe origins of the Portrait Chair began four years ago, as part of an open competition sponsored by Statsbygg (the National Property Board), and co-organized with the National Museum of Norway. The competition brief called for a welcoming, multifunctional chair for use in the museum's many public spaces including all of the galleries, the Grand Hall, Prints and Drawings study rooms, restaurant and Lounge café. The process began with an open prequalification competition that attracted 26 applications. From these, 10 finalists were shortlisted, and their names were placed in sealed envelopes to preclude bias. A jury headed by British designer Jasper Morrison then worked to narrow the entries down to a final winner. When the plans for the Portrait Chair were ultimately selected, the remaining envelope opened to reveal Andreas Engesvik as the chosen designer.\nIn the same way a painted portrait aims to display the likeness, personality and even the mood of the subject, the Portrait Chair was designed to embody the essence of Norway. \"The chair is charged with symbolic meaning,\" says Denise Hagströmer, Design Historian and Senior Curator of Design at the National Museum of Art. \"It has an official identity, as it has, in effect, been commissioned by the nation, and it will be the chair present in the museum's key public spaces. It will be the museum's signature design object for contemporary Norwegian design culture.\"\nThe forms and lines of the Portrait Chair relate to the forms and lines of the seated human body, which makes the geometry of the chair naturally thoughtful...