George Nelson Wall Clocks

In 1947, the American designer George Nelson was commissioned to create a collection of clocks. Nelson analysed how people used clocks and concluded that they read the time by discerning the relative position of the hands, which made the use of numbers unnecessary. Furthermore, since most people wore wristwatches, he assumed that clocks had become more of a decorative element for interiors.

These ideas provided the basis for the first collection of 14 timepieces, consisting of a completely new style of wall clocks and compact table clocks, which were launched on the market in 1949. Although the models all shared one common feature – the absence of numbers – the diversity of their shapes, colous, materials and designs could hardly have been greater.

George Nelson was formally trained in architecture at Yale, before receiving the prestigious Rome Prize in 1932. By 1945, Nelson had established himself as a designer and introduced his first collection for Herman Miller. He would go on to redesign the majority of Herman Miller's furniture collections (alongside others such as Ray and Charles Eames), including graphics and marketing materials. In the mid 1950s, George Nelson incorporated George Nelson & Associates, his office in New York, which employed more than a handful of renowned designs over the years such as Irving Harper, Michael Graves, and Ettore Sottsass. His footprint on the design world was substantial and his works are widely collected today.