George Nelson

George Nelson, born in 1908, was a pioneering American architect and designer and one of the most influential figures of mid-century modernism. After studying architecture at Yale and in Rome, he became design director of Herman Miller in 1945, bringing in Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi and Alexander Girard, and created the Marshmallow Sofa and the Ball Clock.

Vitra produces his Zoo Timers of 1965, wall clocks in the form of colourful hand-drawn animal characters that give children a playful way to tell the time, among them Omar the Owl, Elihu the Elephant and Fernando the Fish.