SJB – The Diversity in Design Series by Herman Miller

Tasked with reinterpreting the iconic Herman Miller Nelson Bubble Lamp to articulate themes of diversity and inclusion, SJB created a design whose strong base reflects the importance of community support and, in the process of working on the project, rediscovered as a team the joys of in-person collaboration within the office.

In responding to the brief from Herman Miller to respond to ideas of diversity and inclusion, SJB decided that “we wanted to take the lamp and fundamentally change it in some way,” says Victoria Judge, team leader at SJB.

As a result, it became a table lamp, with three robust legs cast from a 3D printer moulded with plaster “to give some texture to make sure that every leg was different,” explains SJB team leader Charlotte Wilson. The three strong, crafted legs support the lamp “in the same way as when you feel included, you feel supported,” Victoria says.

To reflect the diversity of the SJB team, every staff member wrote a message onto the lamp. While the writing is invisible when the lamp is off, when illuminated “suddenly, all these beautiful answers to the question ‘when do you feel most included?’ are [revealed],” Charlotte describes.

With the project coinciding with the return to the studio after a year of working from home, “coming back to the office and actually doing this project really taught us the importance of being in the office and collaborating,” Charlotte reflects. Victoria agrees: “It’s not about the result, for us it is about the process that we went through and the sense of collaboration.”

Find out more about how the office has changed as a space of collaboration.