"When design springs from an understanding of the people who are going to use a product, you begin to see forms that you would never have imagined." —Niels Diffrient

"One of the century's preeminent designers, Niels Diffrient has endeavored throughout his storied career to emphasize the 'human factors' of industrial design, using ingenuity and intuition to bring consumers products that meet their needs."

"From his early work with Eero Saarinen and Marco Zanuzo to the present, Diffrient's integrity and vision have been recognized in dozens of awards and honorary citations, and he has served as designer or consultant to the Fortune 500's leading companies. His quest to create workplace environments fitted to the needs of their users continues unabated with 'Freedom,' a task chair that conforms to its user's shape without an array of knobs and levers."

—DaimlerChrysler Design Awards,
a retrospective of winners, 1999