April 19, 2021
Herman Miller acquires Knoll and the industry shudders…
Some unexpected Architecture and Design industry news today (except of course for those insiders and investors who saw this coming before the pandemic). Commercial furniture giant and legacy brand Herman Miller, acquires another iconic design brand Knoll, as the mergers begin again in our industry.
Consider the legacies here…
Herman Miller was founded in Zeeland Michigan in 1905 https://www.hermanmiller.com/about/timeline/
Knoll, a younger and smaller legacy brand was established in 1938 https://www.knoll.com/discover-knoll/our-story
The story on the front of this acquisition is about stock values and opportunity in yet another downturn, fueled by companies struggling with their legacies and relevance in a changing world, and confirmed by the impact of a world pandemic. M&As of this type will be a case study for both good and bad outcomes that will reveal themselves over the next few years.
And yet for many of us in the architecture and design industry it is also about the change in the status quo, and the emotional romanticism of brand legacy and design history. It is like a strange marriage that resulted from a divorce of one of the newly weds from all of us, and our nostalgia for design.
https://www.marketingweek.com/tim-leberecht-on-the-future-of-marketing/
Whatever the outcome, it will be interesting to experience this change and the impact on our thinking, specifications, and approach to designing and furnishing spaces when by nature of the forced evolution of what workspace means, as many brands, products, and design processes quickly become irrelevant in the world of data as reality, and with physical space so up for question in the coming decade.
Whether change for the better or for survival, this will not be the last of industry disruptions in the coming year…
