Hasta La Ideas

Photographer Carl Kleiner has shown his minimalist hand once again in a series of abstract compositions for furniture manufacturer, Herman Miller. The work reveals the various hues in the company’s new materials palette…

To refresh the brand’s three most popular solid colour lines for seating and workspace products, the direction was apparently towards the “expansive, celestial, and lighthearted,” say Herman Miller.

While Kleiner’s abstract compositions seem to have gone their own way (celestial?), they are nonetheless beautiful chunks of colourways which reveal his meticulous eye and hand – he also styled the shots as well.

CR has previously featured his work for Hembakat Är Bäst, Ikea’s 140 page coffee-table baking book, and also a series of images he made for the brand’s kitchenware.

“The [Herman Miller] team takes into account the workhorse neutrals and bestsellers, determines how colours might be affected by matte or gloss finishes, or how well it holds up against various materials such as laminates, plastics, and veneers, and then they systematically begin filling in the holes,” Amber Bravo writes on the HM site of the process of deciding its product’s colours.

“Their ultimate goal is creating a palette that appeals to the senses,” Bravo continues. “After all, nearly 85 percent of consumers believe colour accounts for more than half of their decision whether or not to purchase a product.”

More on the process behind Herman Miller’s research into colour, here. More of Carl Kleiner’s work is at carlkleiner.com – he is represented by Mink Mgmt in Sweden and Mini Title in the UK.