Gilbert Rohde: Modern Design for Modern Living

Rohde, Ross, Phyllis.

Yale 2009

Traces Rohde's career at the Herman Miller Furniture Company, where Rohde was a designer in the 1930s and 1940s, and shows how Rohde's focus on comfort, informality, multifunctionality, and flexibility transposed European design antecedents into furnishings suitable for American lifestyles. A champion of modular components, he experimented with new industrial materials, including plexiglas, and produced furniture with biomorphic forms. Not only did Rohde introduce modern designs, but he also devised a complete merchandising strategy for their promotion.

274 pp. Cl. Many B/W Images.