Herman Miller Nelson Coconut Chair
The popularity of the Coconut Chair isn’t a tough one to crack. This striking design has found a place in many design museums, and its inviting curves have landed it in a number of homes around the world. Originally designed for comfort and movement, it’s been updated with new, more sustainable materials and more upholstery options—all in the spirit of George Nelson’s iconic design.
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- Introduced in 1956, the Coconut Lounge Chair is one artifact of the burst of creativity issued from George Nelson’s design studio, that bustling cadre of designer talent who changed the look and feel of modern American furniture in the mid-20th century.
- Coconut is just one of a number of eye-catching designs that came out of the studio while he was Herman Miller’s director of design. Alongside the Marshmallow Sofa and the first L-shaped desk (what we’d call a workstation today), the Coconut Chair stands out as a modern classic, plain and simple.
- Its three-point triangular cushion evokes a chunk of coconut—Nelson said that it looked like one of eight slices of a whole coconut. The third corner—the one that forms the backrest—is just slightly longer than the two on the sides. That's where the comfort comes from.
- This Nelson Coconut Chair we produce today remains true to Nelson’s original design, but we’ve updated the material to a new, more sustainable polymer shell and expanded your available upholstery options.
George Nelson
Design Details
An Icon Revisited. For a chair to be called iconic, it needs a place in history, with a unique design or an unparalleled sense of comfort. What if it’s both? With the Coconut Chair, Nelson sought “to give lounge seating comfort, together with great freedom of movement.” The work of Nelson and his team—which also included the Marshmallow Sofa—helped usher in modernism to American furniture.
Keep It Sustainable. The Coconut Lounge Chair is true to its original 1955 design—but with updated materials that are consistent with Herman Miller’s commitment to sustainability. The enhanced technology also reduces emissions and better protects manufacturing employees. These updates mirror the modifications made to the Eames fiberglass chairs. After all, it was Nelson who said, “Design is a response to social change.”
Check Out the Range of Materials. The Coconut Chair is available in a choice of upholstery options and patterns that offer a range of expressions for the generously padded shell. Its simple, striking curved polymer hull is lightweight but sturdy and sits atop a three-legged bent steel base, in either white or trivalent chrome.