Happy Christmas from Stua.

Our friends at Stua -- Solo Tengo Un Amor (I have only one love) -- have once again treated us to a stunningly simple holiday greeting. The Globus Chair does indeed deserve a gold star. Happy holidays.

Last day of the Herman Miller® Sale!

Today is your last chance to save 15% on the Eames® Lounge Chair, which will be handcrafted to pithy piano music by a man wearing all white, alongside a magically appearing ottoman, as this 1956 video shows. Okay, maybe not. But you will receive it within two weeks, like all DWR in-stock items. Shop the entire Herman Miller Sale until midnight tonight.

  

Work it out: The final weekend of the Herman Miller® Sale.

Been noodling the purchase of a new task chair? The design that ushered in a new era of ergonomics, Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf’s 1994 Aeron® Chair, is on sale now. Work perches like the Setu, Sayl® and Eames® Management are also included in the sale, ensuring you’ll find a home or office desk chair or conference chair to suit your unique needs. Through Monday, during the Herman Miller Sale, save 15%, enjoy free shipping – and get to work.

It started with a kazam.

The above chair – recently introduced in a lightly padded, upholstered version – would likely not exist if it wasn’t for Charles and Ray Eames’ flagrant disregard for landlords. The famous LCW was an eventual evolution of experiments the couple did in their first apartment as newlyweds. Their first place (which happened to be designed to Richard Neutra) was on Strathmore Avenue in Westwood, a suburb of Los Angeles. They took the liberty of turning it into a workshop.

Introducing the DWR iPad App

See the DWR iPad app in action.

Learn, shop and be inspired.

From iconic furniture to cool accessories to beautiful interiors, the DWR iPad app is an essential resource for modern design fans.

Here’s what the app lets you do:

• Flip through a lookbook of DWR room ideas pulled from the best of DWR's inspiring photography archive.

• Bookmark and share your favorite photos on Pinterest, Facebook and more.

• Enjoy content-rich biographies and videos that tell the stories of people who have made modern design history.

• See what was happening in the world when your favorite objects were created.

• Browse and shop the entire DWR product assortment.

Have you watched "Powers of 10" lately?

Charles and Ray Eames’ 1977 short film feels simultaneously slightly dated and like it’s on the cutting edge. As Philip Morrison narrates the process of “giant steps” carrying us “into the outskirts of the galaxy,” it feels like an homage to the unbounded optimism of modernism – to the conviction that science, reason and knowledge will free us from the constraints of god and religion. And yet, Morrison points out, as we look on the universe as we understand it, “this emptiness is normal.” Perspective may shift, a sense of oneness can emerges and one might be tempted to take a deep breath. What magic were those Eameses up to, anyway?

BassamFellows' black tie.

“When we launched BassamFellows in 2003, our whole thing was oiled teak and oxidized brass, but we were surrounded by bright plastics,” Craig Bassam told design writer Mandi Keighran last February. “We were this odd thing, this very natural thing. Craft wasn’t a word used much back then.”

Holiday Wishes from our President.

Dear Readers, 

Happy Holidays from all of us at Design Within Reach. The DWR family is having its best season ever, thanks to you. We have been bringing you fresh products like Lampe Gras, B&B Italia, Milo Baughman and Hay – and it's clear that you love them!

Your choice to support authentic product and shun copies has fueled our growth in all regions, from California to Florida, Boston to Austin, Atlanta to Scottsdale.

We're doubling our SoHo Studio, creating a huge space in Miami and opening our largest Studio to date in Costa Mesa. And, of course, there are always exciting things to see at dwr.com.

It's our passion to search the world for new designers to share with you, and everything in this catalog has been curated to ensure that the dream of making authentic modern design accessible is a reality. 

Please remember that accessible means in stock, available to see and touch in our Studios and available to the public. We love what we do, and we would be nowhere without you.

Happy Holidays!

 

Craving culture? Exhibitions to see now.

Red Sun by Arthur G. Dove, 1935. Oil on canvas. On display at Amon Carter Museum. © Estate of Arthur G. Dove; The Phillips Collection

Here are just a few exhibitions happening around the country. From the Phillips Collection in Fort Worth to Eero Saarinen in Los Angeles to Studio Gang Architects in Chicago, there is richness to enjoy everywhere.

TEXAS

Amon Carter Museum of American Art
To See as Artists See: American Art from the Phillips Collection
Industrial Monuments: Photographs and Works on Paper from the Machine Age

CALIFORNIA

Architecture and Design Museum, Los Angeles
Eero Saarinen: A Reputation for Innovation 

Pasadena Museum of California Art 
Greta Magnusson Grossman: A Car and Some Shorts 

You have to read George.

George Nelson posing for Herman Miller advertisement "Traveling Men," ca. 1954. Courtesy of Vitra Design Museum Archive.

At last week's Yale symposium about George Nelson, one message was clear: You have to read George. In other words, George the writer trumps George the architect, George the designer and George the teacher, combined.

For two days, scholars, design nerds, editors and Murray Moss (there is no label to define him) talked about the legacy of this American icon. Known mainly for his furniture and design work for Herman Miller, Nelson also wrote and edited for Architectural Forum, Fortune, Pencil Points, Life and McCall's, and co-authored the bestselling Tomorrow's House with Henry Wright.

Cover of November 1959 issue of Architectural Forum, where George Nelson was associate editor (1935-1943) and consulting editor (1944-1949).

Exploring (and slightly disagreeing with) the Finn Juhl exhibition.

Across the museum courtyard, a beautiful red and gold building foreshadows the Finn Juhl exhibition we were about to see: Furniture for the Senses at Designmuseum Danmark.

Finn Juhl's gold and purple sofa designed in 1957, shown with a coffee table he designed for professor Alf Ross in 1948. Ross was a Danish lawyer, legal philosopher and the author of Guilt, Responsibility and Punishment in which he wrote about "morality's capacity to guide human behavior." Which brings me to the question of the built-in vase in this coffee table. Are we to see the flowers as imprisoned in the tabletop and, if so, what pray tell was their crime?

Home for the holidays…

Pulled from the pages of our November catalog, here is our 2012 holiday story. It was shot on location in Armonk, New York, in a stunning mid-century home designed by Arthur Witthoefft.

 

Home for the holidays…

 

"I feel foolish that I came outside carrying a wreath, hammer and nail," she said as they stood outside their glass house. He took the wreath from her hand, hung it on the doorknob and said, "Let the holidays begin."

What will you put in your Vitra Toolbox?

Designed by Arik Levy, the Vitra Toolbox is a sleek, simple way to organize your everyday items. From art supplies to cosmetics to kitchen utensils ... heck, you can even keep real tools in it ... this versatile carryall is sure to please. Shown with Girard Dolls and Vitra Miniatures.

Form follows function – and a fabulous story.

Le Corbusier and one of his assistants working under the light of a Lampe Gras, 1959

We are so excited to present the iconic Lampes Gras Collection, a DWR exclusive. 

This is not a lamp designed to satisfy the ego of a designer. Rather, it is the product of Bernard-Albin Gras’ passion to improve working conditions for hundreds of laborers in ordinary machine shops, research laboratories and design studios in the 1920s. His success in creating a beautiful form by reducing a lamp to its pure function made Lampe Gras an emblem of modern design in the early 20th century.

D'oh!

I realize that I'm three years late with this "OMG" but did you know that Homer Simpson visited the Stahl House in the 2009 season premier of The Simpsons? The episode centers around Homer being cast as a superhero in a Hollywood movie, which is how he ends up at this iconic Los Angeles house, also known as Case Study House #22, designed by Pierre Koenig.

Just in: Kaleido, Les Perles and Gregor.

Kaleido trays

Our new product launches include colorful trays, playful candlesticks and a calendar that unravels (a visual reminder that time is swift). We also have cozy wool throws and an LED lamp with built-in USB port. Check out what’s new at dwr.com.

Les Perles candlesticks

Craving culture? Exhibitions to see now.

The Rain Room in London. Photo by Oli Scarf/Getty Images

Here are just a few exhibitions happening around the country. From powerful women in Seattle to a celebration of George Nelson at Yale to controlling the rain in London, there is richness to enjoy everywhere.

WASHINGTON

Seattle Art Museum
Women Take Over, Elles: Women Artists from Centre Pompidou, Paris 

CONNECTICUT

Yale School of Architecture
George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher - Opens Nov. 8

LONDON

The Curve
Random International: Rain Room 

A Symbol of Hope.

Perhaps one of the most amazing things about the National Design Awards is the trophy. The amount of thought, innovation, creativity – and the fact that it takes six to eight hours to complete one – is an award-winning effort. Beginning in 2011 and again this year, Corning, Inc. as part of the Corning Museum’s GlassLab initiative, has designed, sculpted and hand-polished each trophy.

"This sure is a lot of fun, but who else would want to do it?"

If you've ever been to Marin County, California, you know it is a hot area for biking. But did you know that it is actually where mountain biking began? The quote above is what Joe Breeze said to Otis Guy while riding their stripped-down, single-speed Schwinn bikes on Mt. Tam in 1975.

Howie Hammerman, Otis Guy, Chris McManus and Joe Breeze on Mount Tamalpais, Marin County, California, in November 1977. Photo by Wende Cragg, Rolling Dinosaur archives.

An exhibition currently at San Francisco International Airport (yes, at the airport) explores the exciting evolution of mountain biking. "From Repack to Rwanda: The Origins, Evolution, and Global Reach of the Mountain Bike" will be on display in the International Terminal through February 2013.

Project Rwanda Coffee Bike 2012 | Ritchey Design, Inc., Redwood City, California

Craving culture? Exhibitions to see now.

Schaukelwagen (Rocking car) by Hans Brockhage, 1950. On display at MoMA, New York.

Here are just a few exhibitions happening around the country. From Louis Kahn in NYC to a celebration of George Nelson at Cranbrook to “House & Home” in Washington, D.C., there is richness to enjoy everywhere.

NEW YORK

Lori Bookstein Fine Art
Louis I. Kahn: In the Park - Opens Oct. 11

The Museum at FIT 
Ivy Style

MoMA
Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900-2000

COLORADO

Denver Art Museum 
What is Modern?