[4] He did not originally set out to become an architect; he happened upon the architecture school at Yale, when he ducked into a building during a rainstorm, in order to get out of the rain.

While based in Rome, Nelson traveled through Europe where he met a number of the modernist pioneers, whom he interviewed for articles for Pencil Points magazine.

Through his articles in Pencil Points he introduced the work of Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Gio Ponti to North America.

"The contemporary architect, cut off from symbols, ornament and meaningful elaborations of structural form, all of which earlier periods processed in abundance, has desperately chased every functional requirement, every change in sight or ornamentation, every technical improvement, to provide some basis for starting his work.

Where the limitations were most rigorous, as for example in a factory, or in a skyscraper where every inch had to yield its profit, there the designers were happiest and the results most satisfying but; let a religious belief or a social ideal replace the cubic foot costs or radiation losses, and nothing happened.

There is not a single modern church in the entire country that is comparable to a first-rate cafeteria, as far as solving the problem is concerned.

"[7] At this point, Nelson's career still mainly involved writing for architecture magazines and not actually designing the solutions to modern living that he would later become famous for.

In his post-war book Tomorrow's House, co-authored with Henry Wright, he introduced the concept of the "family room", and the "storage wall".

Ray and Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia, Richard Schultz, Donald Knorr, and Isamu Noguchi all worked for Herman Miller, under Nelson's supervision.

After consulting with experts in psychology, anthropology, and various other fields, Propst created the Action Office I line, which was executed by Nelson's studio, and first appeared in Herman Miller's 1964 catalog.

[11] In 1970 he sent a letter to Robert Blaich, who had become Herman Miller's Vice-President for Corporate Design and Communication, in which he described the system's "dehumanizing effect as a working environment."

He summed up his feeling by saying: "One does not have to be an especially perceptive critic to realize that AO II is definitely not a system which produces an environment gratifying for people in general.

But it is admirable for planners looking for ways of cramming in a maximum number of bodies, for "employees" (as against individuals), for "personnel," corporate zombies, the walking dead, the silent majority.

[12] The George Nelson Associates, Inc. catalog, and exhibition designs for Herman Miller, made modernism the most important driving force in the company.

From his start in the mid-forties until the mid-eighties George Nelson Associates, Inc. partnered with most of the modernist designers of the time.

[7] Nelson wrote extensively, published several books, and organized conferences like the Aspen design gatherings, where for more than 30 years he was the guiding force.

In 2008, the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany, held a retrospective of Nelson's work to celebrate his 100th birthday.

[5] Design critic Alice Rawsthorn, covering the retrospective for The New York Times, argued that Nelson's contributions have been unfairly overlooked due to his association with the cubicle and jokey 1950s objects.

"Blaming Nelson for the soullessness of today's open-plan offices seems as unfair as slating Le Corbusier for other architects' sloppily designed skyscrapers, or Marcel Duchamp for every lazy piece of conceptual art," she wrote.

"[15] His firm, George Nelson Associates, also designed a large series of wall and table clocks for the Howard Miller company, as well as a range of hanging Bubble Lamps, which had plastic membrane-covered wire-form shades, wrought iron fireplace pieces, planters, room dividers, ceiling-mounted "Ribbon Wall," spice cabinets, and many other products that became milestones in the history of a profession that he helped to shape.

[21][22] Nelson has been tagged a metadesigner for his progressive thinking of interdisciplinary design, for bringing his primary focus on the process, not the product.