Therapeutic news for people who work at home and nap secretly, in shame: You are not alone. The Pew Research Center reported in July, 2009 that about 34% of adults surveyed had napped in the previous 24 hours. Plus, you nappers are providing your customers a valuable service.
Read more
Over the last two years, more than 100 Herman Miller women have volunteered to be monthly sponsors for “sisters” in war-torn Kosovo through Women for Women International, a nonprofit organization that provides women survivors of war, civil strife, and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency.
Read more
One of the reasons I like living in Holland, Michigan, is that it’s a balanced mix of city, country, and beach resort. Complemented by the beauty of four seasons, we have a lot of variety all year ‘round. In the summertime, there’s nothing like a commute to work by bicycle, especially with a network of bike paths to keep you safe and free to enjoy the ride.
Read more
When “natural” happiness withers under the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, it’s nice to know we can just make some more.
Making happiness may not be as easy as whipping up a batch of double chocolate brownies, but psychologist Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness, says that we humans have the capacity to manufacture happiness, and that “synthetic” happiness is indistinguishable from “natural” happiness.
Read more
Photos via: University of Texas Press
Tourism this season, possibly seasons future, may find us staying closer to home, opting for economically modest destinations—a long weekend in Chicago in lieu of a ten-day cruise down the Rhine; New York for museums; a quick jaunt to Santa Fe; Pittsburgh, as opposed to Vienna or the south of France. (Hold that thought.)
Read more
You can’t imagine how great it is to see our company newspaper, Spirit, come out for the third year in a row. We do it on a shoestring budget with volunteer help from many employee-writers, photographers, and editors. I’m one of the editors, and reading Spirit is the best way to find out about all the great things that go on at Herman Miller—environmental work, volunteer programs, business triumphs. In a company of 4,000 employees, it’s amazing the variety of interests and depth of feeling among Herman Miller people all over the world. Spirit is 40 pages of life at Herman Miller over the past year!
By Clark Malcolm
In the late 1920s, three grand and progressive New York ladies, Miss Lillie P. Bliss, Mrs. Cornelius J. Sullivan, and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., decided the world needed a museum devoted to modern art. They hired Alfred Hamilton Barr, Jr., as director, and in 1929 — an inauspicious year — the Museum of Modern Art opened to the public.
Read more
“The starting point of Teneo,” say designers Ayse Birsel and Bibi Seck, “was challenging the storage archetype and saying, ‘Well, why can’t we do this any other way?’” They answered their question by looking at storage from an entirely new perspective. This year, Teneo storage furniture earned the coveted Gold award from the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) in the Office and Productivity category.
The next time you brush your teeth and leave the water running, think about some of these facts that point to a worldwide water shortage.
Read more
Not everyone gets to step out from their workplace and pinch off some fresh dill to top their leftover salmon at lunchtime. Or bring tomatoes home from work for dinner. Unless you work at our Design Yard facility in Holland, Michigan, where a group of employees have nurtured a garden full of veggies, herbs, and perennials for all employees to enjoy.
Read more