An early zap came in the 1930s, when he was an architectural student in Rome. Before returning home, an idea struck him: he would travel Europe and interview leading modern architects, hoping to publish the articles in the US. He succeeded, and in the process introduced the US design community to the European avant-garde. This set in motion a sequence of what he called “lucky” career breaks that were really the inevitable outcomes of his brilliance as a designer, teacher and author.

The first break was being named an editor of Architectural Forum magazine. Working on a story there in 1942, he was looking at aerial photos of blighted cities when – zap! – he developed the concept of the pedestrian shopping centre in city centres, which was unveiled in the Saturday Evening Post.

Soon after, another zap led to the Storagewall, the first modular storage system and a forerunner of systems furniture. The Storagewall was showcased in a 1945 Life magazine article, causing a sensation in the furniture industry. Herman Miller founder D.J. De Pree saw the article and was so impressed that he paid a visit to Nelson in New York and convinced him to be his director of design, which spurred Nelson to found his design firm, George Nelson & Associates. The warm, personal and professional relationship between Nelson and De Pree resulted in a stunning range of products, from the playful Marshmallow Sofa to the first L-shaped desk, a precursor of today’s workstation.

Nelson once wrote that Herman Miller “is not playing follow-the-leader”. That’s one reason why George Nelson & Associates worked with Herman Miller for over 25 years as they shepherded design into the modern era.