A Hungarian architect and designer, he trained in Vienna before moving to Stuttgart, where he quickly established himself as a designer, winning the admiration of, among others, Salvador Dali. At the dawn of World War II, he left Europe for Southern California. There, his furniture soon became highly sought-after and his Beverly Hills studio welcomed a prestigious clientele. Without ceasing this activity, in 1948 he founded Herman Miller Inc. with George Nelson, Charles Eames and Isamu Noguchi, whose furniture would make the history of American industrial design.