“Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Like a thirsty man surrounded by saltwater, visitors to our midcentury modern home often glimpse more than 100, non-operating clocks on the wall and have this reaction. What use is a clock that isn’t plugged in and doesn’t tell time? The answer is that these are no ordinary clocks, as even a cursory inspection reveals. George Nelson and his team of designers—particularly Irving Harper—cared about function, but they were inspired by art, sculpture, innovation, and the philosophy of time.
A January 1, 1960 article in the New York Times put it succinctly. “Mr. Harper, seeking the soothing effect of shifting sands in hour-glasses, the mechanical wonders of eighteenth century clocks, and a new sculptural quality in time pieces, arrived [at the Motion Notion series]....By employing materials alien to clocksmiths of old, he has achieved a startling group of hypnotizing designs.” The designs are no less hypnotizing or influential sixty plus years later.
It is not an exaggeration to say that George Nelson’s office changed the way we think about time and postwar modernism. For instance, the Atomic Ball clock (designed by Harper, not dreamed up by Nelson and Noguchi over drinks) is the embodiment of the era. The Whirlygig clock (model 2268) is the groundbreaking reimagination of a traditional, glass dome anniversary clock. Other standouts showcased recently-invented plastic molding techniques (models 2263 and 2282).
People ask which is my favorite. The answer is easy; it’s the Hexagon clock (model 2266). Harper’s ingenious use of an external and an internal hexagon to make up the twelve hour markers, the “floating” minute and hour hands, and the spinning spirograph second hand are mesmerizing. And it is easy to see the influence of Harper’s artwork and graphic design, which relies heavily on hexagons.
The interior of the Dorsey home. Photographer: Ross Floyd
Of course, it wasn’t just about clocks. George Nelson’s office designed some groundbreaking furniture like the Thin Edge series and Coconut chair that are still in production today. From whiskey bottles to knife sharpeners and even bird houses, George Nelson and his associates designed it all with creative abandon over more than two decades.
I inherited my first pieces from my grandparents, who purchased them new in the 1950s, and we have lived with, expanded, and cherished our collection ever since. We look forward to sharing some of it with you all through this catalog and sale.
Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1908, George Nelson studied architecture at Yale University, teaching for a short time before the Great Depression. In 1932, he won the Rome Prize and spent the next two years studying design in Italy. Returning to the states, Nelson sold his essays to Pencil Points and became an associate editor at Architecture Forum and Fortune magazine. After reading Nelson’s innovative book Tomorrow's House, then president of Herman Miller furniture company D.J. De Pree hired Nelson as design director. Nelson launched his first collection in 1947 and transformed the struggling company into a groundbreaking leader in the field. Nelson remained at Herman Miller until the mid-1960s, and was responsible for bringing Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard and Isamu Noguchi on board.
In 1947, Nelson opened his own design studio, George Nelson Associates, Inc. which at one time employed over seventy people. The company’s work within corporate settings revolutionized the concept of branding and elevated industrial design to new heights. Throughout his career, Nelson continued to write critically about design across multiple planes, teaching and consulting until his death in 1986.
