A Fly on the Wall

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending a party hosted by Herman Miller at the new Nine Zero Hotel in Boston. The guest of honor at this party was George Nelson's personal secretary of 21 years, Hilda Longinotti.

Here she is modeling during her early years with Nelson.

 And here she is years later, while working with Herman Miller.

And let me tell you...this woman had some stories! She told us all the scoop on George Nelson, including what it was like to work in a design firm in the 50's {imagine Mad Men meets architecture}. She met Andy Warhol on several occasions. Nelson's office had hired him to do several renderings for one of their projects before he was the Andy Warhol. She was around when Nelson invited Ray and Charles Eames to join the Herman Miller design team. This woman has seen it all and it was so exciting to get to hear it all first hand from such a fun, spunky personality. I felt like I was a fly on the wall of one one of the greatest design practices to date. I think George must have been in love with her. I sure was.

I, of course, love George Nelson as well. Remind me later to tell you the real scoop on Ray and Charles Eames! You. will. die.