Design for Every Body
For more than theee decades, Michael Graves Design has believed that good design can make everyday life better. That belief has taken us into kitchens, homes, hospitals and countless daily routines, inspiring remarkable objects that are useful, beautiful and full of personality.
We call our approach Design for Every Body.
Our Philosophy: Activities of Daily Living
We pay close attention to the activities and rituals that shape everyday life: how we hold something, open it, carry it, cook with it, move through a room, get dressed or prepare for the day. These ordinary moments are known as our Activities of Daily Living. They look different for every body, depending on age, ability and stage of life, and that's exactly where the best design opportunities live.
How We Design: Human Context, Design Truth, Emotional Spark
Every Michael Graves Design product is designed to tell a story, built around three elements. Human Context begins with the moments of use, including the rituals, needs and behaviors that shape the experience. Design Truth is the form, balance and interaction that allow the object to respond naturally to the body in motion. Emotional Spark gives the product its character, through details that bring warmth, wit, beauty or surprise and transform use into something memorable.
Together, these elements guide us toward products that work beautifully and feel distinctly Michael Graves Design.
Some opportunities begin with a frustration. Others begin with the possibility of creating something wonderful. A great object can make a table more beautiful, make someone smile, or become a favorite gift. A lot of design today seems built to be wanted at the time of purchase. Ours is meant to be lived with, and our customers tell us this themselves, about the things we've designed: a cane, a kettle, a broom, that they didn't expect to love. But then they cherished it, because it brought pleasure to a familiar ritual, or made an ordinary moment feel a little more special. We want to create products people desire, and then keep desiring, long after they've brought them home.
That philosophy has led us to a wonderfully broad range of products. A kettle and a walking cane may seem to have little in common, but to us they belong to the same conversation. Each is part of everyday life. Each can be easier and more enjoyable to use. Each can have character. Each can become an object someone is proud to own and happy to leave out rather than put away. Each deserves to be thoughtfully designed.
Our Process: Design With
We call our process Design With. We start with the person and the activity, listening to people as they describe how they live, what they value, where they struggle and what they wish could work differently. We learn from their experiences, develop ideas with them and test our designs in the contexts where they will actually be used. Those insights help us remove frustrations, create moments of delight and discover entirely new ways of thinking about familiar objects.
What's Next for Michael Graves Design
There is a lot coming next: new products, new partnerships and new ways of bringing Michael Graves Design into everyday life. Through all of it, the idea at the center remains remarkably simple: thoughtful, spirited products that work beautifully, bring delight and enrich everyday life for Every Body.
We're glad you're here, and we're excited to share what's ahead.
Michael Graves Design
