Nelson Marshmallow Sofa

The Nelson Marshmallow Sofa (1956) was inspired by inventor Irving Harper, who approached George Nelson with a proposed machine that could produce low-cost cushions. Since each cushion would have a maximum diameter of 12 inches, Nelson and Harper perched 18 of them atop a steel frame and back to see how they'd look. The machine didn't pan out, but the sofa's design was so compelling that Herman Miller produced it anyway.