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Monday, June 10, 2013
Remembering Niels Diffrient
Design
| The iconic American industrial designer, Niels Diffrient has passed away at the age of 84. Diffrient will be remembered for his bringing ergonomics to the fore in design and for his famous Freedom Chair. |
The iconic American designer has passed away at the age of 84.
Diffrient's three-volume reference work, Humanscale, explores the relationship of spine to chair and other "human engineering" data necessary for highly specialized workplaces such as a cockpit or a truck cab, as well as aiding in the search for the perfectly comfortable place to sit down.
In the field of furniture design, most notably ergonomic seating, Niels won a total of 24 awards, including two Best of Show and 10 Gold and Top awards. Diffrient holds more than 46 design and utility patents on furniture designs in America and abroad, and his many honors include the I.D. (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.
In the field of furniture design, most notably ergonomic seating, Niels won a total of 24 awards, including two Best of Show and 10 Gold and Top awards. Diffrient holds more than 46 design and utility patents on furniture designs in America and abroad, and his many honors include the I.D. (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.
In the 1990s, Diffrient turned his attention to the office task chair. Working with the company Humanscale, he drew up the Freedom Chair, a self-adjusting chair that mixed advanced materials (such as a gel seat pad) with good old-fashioned sketchbook design.
The Freedom chair was part of a late-'90s revolution in design that turned expensive ergonomic office chairs into dot-com covetables. In 2004, Diffrient and Humanscale released the lighter and lower-priced Liberty task chair.
In 2007, Forbes.com named Diffrient the "granddaddy of the ergonomic revolution" and one of ten "Tastemakers" in the field of industrial design. Diffrient is also an Honorary Royal Designer for Industry, awarded by the Royal Society of Arts and Industry, London. Lifetime Contribution to Design Award, FX Magazine International Interior Design Awards, 2012.
Diffrient made a true difference to the world of design and his friends and family and will be missed.
SOURCE TED
The Freedom chair was part of a late-'90s revolution in design that turned expensive ergonomic office chairs into dot-com covetables. In 2004, Diffrient and Humanscale released the lighter and lower-priced Liberty task chair.
In 2007, Forbes.com named Diffrient the "granddaddy of the ergonomic revolution" and one of ten "Tastemakers" in the field of industrial design. Diffrient is also an Honorary Royal Designer for Industry, awarded by the Royal Society of Arts and Industry, London. Lifetime Contribution to Design Award, FX Magazine International Interior Design Awards, 2012.
Diffrient made a true difference to the world of design and his friends and family and will be missed.
SOURCE TED
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