Merchants of Virtue: A Look at How We Design for the Environment

by David Foster
Sep 13, 2011 3:00 PM ET

Herman Miller Discover Blog

We design products with consideration for their environmental impact. Sometimes it’s straightforward—usually it’s not. But that doesn’t matter because we believe it’s the right thing to do. Merchants of Virtue, a new book by independent journalist and writer Bill Birchard, tells the stories of our struggles to be good stewards of the environment.

Why Herman Miller? Bill Birchard in his own words:

“The people of Herman Miller showed something even the activists could not: Sustainability in a large, established business—a company making the ’stuff’ we all buy—is sustainable. …In good times and bad, the people at Herman Miller continue to ask new questions, test new ideas, and rethink and restructure the nature of the work to make their business more sustainable.”

In a world of corporate-funded literature, we take it as a compliment that someone of Birchard’s reputation would take it upon himself to tell our story.

Merchants of Virtue by Bill Birchard is out now.

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