Niels Diffrient

Product/Industrial Designer / United States / Niels Diffrient Product Design

(1928–2013) Niels Diffrient started his studies in Aeronautical Engineering, changing to Art and Painting followed by Design and Architecture, in which he received his degree from Cranbrook Academy. He was then granted a Fulbright fellowship to live and work in Milan, Italy. While there he designed a sewing machine with the Architect Marco Zanuso, which won the Compasso D’Oro at the Milan Triennale. He also worked with the architect Eero Saarinen where he assisted in the design of office seating for Knoll, which remains in production after 50 years. He was subsequently a partner in the office of Henry Dreyfuss, which created designs for long-term clients Bell Telephone, John Deere, Polaroid, Singer Sewing Machine, American Airlines, Lockheed Aircraft, Honeywell, Gates Learjet, Hyster Lift Trucks, and more.

In 1981 he initiated his own practice for consulting and developing designs for licensing in the commercial furniture field. His furniture designs have been produced by Knoll International, Sunar Hauserman, Howe Furniture Company, KI International, and currently, Humanscale Corporation. These designs have all won awards totaling 38, which include two Best of Show and 18 gold and top awards. He also holds more than 46 mechanical and design patents for furniture alone.

Diffrient's work has been published broadly in the fields of design and ergonomics, most notably in the three-volume compendium Humanscale. He taught design at UCLA for eight years and at Yale University School of Architecture for two years. In addition, he has been the recipient of four research grants from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Graham Foundation.

Diffrient has received many honors, including Fellow of the Industrial Designers Society of America; Honorary Doctorate from Art Center College; Honorary Royal Designer from the Royal Society of Arts, London; Institute honors from the American Institute of Architects; Honorary Doctorate from the College of Creative Studies; the Daimler Chrysler Award for Innovation; the National Design award in product design from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; Legend Award from Contract magazine; and Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Interior Design Institute.

comments powered by Disqus

Announcements

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

Now is Better

By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023

Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.

Order the book.

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future

By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022

Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.

Order the book.

Love Letter to a Garden by Debbie Millman

Love Letter to a Garden

By Debbie Millman
Contributions by Roxane Gay
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: April 15, 2025

From the award-winning artist, designer, and the host of the podcast Design Matters, Debbie Millman, this book tells the visual story of falling in love with gardening—and the philosophies that work conjures. Spread throughout are simple recipes using the garden’s ingredients from Millman’s wife, best-selling author Roxane Gay.

Order the book.

Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber

Milton Glaser: POP

By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023

This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

Order the book.

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022

Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”

Order the book.

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)

By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023

This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

Order the book.