Cross Pollination
Cross Pollination
Before Herman Miller licensed and manufactured the Capelli Stool, it was an in-house project—taken on as a way to inspire, explore, and vitalize our thinking. Designing Capelli resulted in us becoming experts in laminated wood construction, as we built and tested several full-sized prototypes in our own shop.
Clamping the mold while making a full-size prototype of the Capelli Stool
We relish cross-pollinating our expertise to different industries, unveiling unique solutions for creative problem solving. When we met Dr. Fang Bian of headphone company HIFIMAN in 2013, we immediately saw a chance to use our expertise in laminated wood.
Use of wood in audiophile headphones was nothing new, but the solid wood ear cups that came from Dr. Fang’s factory in humid Southern China had issues when they were shipped to other destinations—warping and in some cases cracking when the natural variations in the wood dried too quickly.
Dr. Fang wanted to use wood in his new flagship headphone, but he was wary after the issues he had with solid wood. We told him that we’d try a design with laminated wood instead.
Our ear cup design incorporates a ring made of 5 layers of natural cherry veneer, which we developed completely in-house. Because of its unique scale and requirements, we couldn’t find a supplier who could prototype the part the way we wanted—so we did it ourselves.
Creating laminated wood ear cup prototypes for HIFIMAN in our studio
Using knowledge gained from prototyping the part, we then developed a manufacturing process plan to show the HIFIMAN factory how to create the laminated ring.
Manufacturing process drawings for the laminated wood ear cup
The resulting piece is integral to the design of the HE1000, HIFIMAN’s flagship headphone when it was released in early 2015. The design has become a HIFIMAN icon, and is now a keystone of the company’s visual brand language, featured in a multitude of their top-tier headphone models.
The HIFIMAN HE1000
As for where it all began, the Capelli Stool is now in its 20th year of production with Herman Miller. We remain always on the lookout for the next opportunity to cross-pollinate a creative design solution.