SOM76
As chief executive of IBM from 1956–1971, Thomas J. Watson, Jr., led the U.S. into the digital age. Often attributed to Watson is the phrase, “Good design is good business”, and every aspect of the IBM headquarters project supported that ethos. Watson hired architect and industrial designer Eliot Noyes to reshape IBM’s identity and image, where he acted as a bridge between corporate culture and the creative impulse, bringing a sophisticated sensibility to design and the look of material culture. In 1957, IBM commissioned SOM to design its Armonk, New York headquarters, directed by Noyes and employing the modernist principles he and the architecture firm both espoused. The SOM76 collection was conceived to furnish the lobby space of the building, designed to seamlessly enhance the built space it occupied.
The SOM76 collection pares down detail to achieve a harmony of simple elegance and inviting comfort. The chair and sofa are at once rationalist and expressive, bold and refined, with a precision that suits modern, uncluttered spaces in both residential and contract settings.
The collection stands as a testament to enduring modernist principles, showing how thoughtful design continues to meet practical and aesthetic needs across decades.
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