Name: 1963 Letter from Hugh De Pree – President of Herman Miller
Date: May 17th 1963
No. Pages: 2
No. Eames Pages: 0
Synopsis: This hand signed typed ‘cable letter’ was sent to all showrooms and vendors of Herman Miller furniture products in 1963. It is significant in that it outlines and details a new pricing structure to be adopted by resellers of the brands products. As the letter points out, no longer will Herman Miller ‘fix’ the retail end user price that vendors can ‘discount down’ from but instead will price things at a trade rate from which vendors can attribute their own margins. The letter is another small snapshot into how Herman Miller adopted a pro-active and developmental working practice. Hugh De Pree took over as CEO of Herman Miller from his father D.J De Pree in 1962 before handing the reigns to his brother Max in later years. The letter sports the third incarnation of the Herman Miller logo with the Large ‘M’ no longer part of the Miller word but as a separate and recognizable logo. This logo was the first to announce that the company was now incorporated which occurred in 1960.
