“If you’re not always looking at things and looking at them differently, with an overall curiosity, you’re no longer a designer.”

– Don Chadwick

Chadwick and his wife spend much of their time visiting art galleries or prospecting new restaurants in Los Angeles, as well as abroad. An avid documentarian, he seldom travels without his camera. His current favourite, a Sony RX100M3. He says of his photography, “I tend to look at everything. If it has some particular visual interest, I don’t mind recording it. It doesn’t have to be pretty, either.”

Recently, Chadwick revisited his and Stumpf’s most successful design, the Aeron chair. The designer and Herman Miller worked together for nearly two years to update almost every element of the chair for today’s workers. With Chadwick’s leadership, today’s Aeron is re-engineered for better health, readjusted for better performance, reconsidered for a better fit and refined for modern environments.

Since childhood, Chadwick has found inspiration in the great outdoors. He still hikes the hills of West LA with Stanley, his Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, seeking the inspiration to influence his next design – however innovative it may be. “I still have the excitement,” says Chadwick. “And the curiosity. That’s what’s important. If you’re not always looking at things and looking at them differently, with an overall curiosity, you’re no longer a designer.”