hermanmiller.comImage source: Jack Kelley
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Designer
Jack Kelley
Jack Kelley is an industrial designer who worked as a researcher and designer for the Herman Miller Research Corporation, then headed by Robert Propst. In 1968 he worked at the Stanford Research Institute with Douglas Engelbart, inventor…
Biography
Background
Jack Kelley is an industrial designer who worked as a researcher and designer for the Herman Miller Research Corporation, then headed by Robert Propst. In 1968 he worked at the Stanford Research Institute with Douglas Engelbart, inventor of the first computer mouse, and designed the mouse's pad. His office is Studio 222 in Spring Lake, Michigan.
Signature Style
Kelley uses his knowledge of computers as a driving force behind many of his furniture designs, and he says one has to understand computers, and the people who depend on them, to design for today's offices. He also meets the people whose working lives he is trying to improve.
Notable Works
- Action Office system for Herman Miller, components designed with Robert Propst
- Ethospace system and the Ethospace Nurses Station
- Co/Struc system
- Arrio freestanding systems furniture, Flex-Edge and the Scooter stand
Legacy
He received the IDSA Design Award for Arrio (1997), the ID magazine Annual Design Review Award for Flex-Edge (1995), and for Ethospace the IBD Gold Award, IDSA Design Excellence Award and Roscoe Award (all 1985). After more than 40 years of designing for Herman Miller he continues to design.

