The Handmade Process [Video]
September 30, 2012 by:
Daniel Ostroff
In the September 27, 2012 issue of Fastcodesign.com, Cliff Kuang writes: “Last year, I visited the Herman Miller factories and manufacturing partners in and around Zeeland, Michigan, and my first stop was at the astonishingly efficient factory that turns out the famed Aeron chair. Using a continual improvement management process learned directly from Toyota manufacturing gurus, Aeron production efficiency has improved by 500% since it was first introduced. All of which is a marked contrast to the Eames classics that made Herman Miller famous. As much as technology has advanced, and as much as the status of the American worker has morphed, the process of making an Eames lounge or a LCW chair remains painstaking and thoroughly human.”
Cliff Kuang is an editor at Fast Company and the founding editor of its spin-off, Co.Design, which in 2011 won the National Magazine Award for best online department. Recently, his work was collected in The Best Business Writing of 2012. Prior to Fast Company, he has been an editor at I.D. magazine and The Economist online. His work has also appeared regularly in WIRED, Popular Science and GOOD.
You can read the original article here:
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669956/watch-the-handmade-process-behind-your-eames-chair#1
This is the original shop drawing of the Eames lounge chair, drawn on thin sheets of plywood, to withstand the rigors of everyday use.
Here is the Fast Company video:
http://www.fastcodesign.com/embed/3483399fa34af
The video and the photographs are by Fast Company’s Drew Anthony Smith
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