Born in Halifax, England, in 1949, Pawson took a circuitous path to architecture and design. After attending Eton, he spent a year traveling the world, then worked for his father’s clothing business for six years, before moving to Japan with the intent of becoming a Buddhist monk.

Although he discovered that he did not have a monastic vocation, he remained in Japan for four years, supporting himself by teaching English. During this period he also met and became friends with designer Shiro Kuramata, who showed Pawson what life as a designer could look like. “He taught me the value of discipline... His determination to get things right was absolute,” Pawson wrote. It was on Kuramata’s recommendation that Pawson, when he returned home, attended the Architectural Association School of Architecture.

Since leaving architecture school to start his own firm in 1981, Pawson has designed everything from a monastery, art galleries, yacht interiors, hotels, ballet sets and a winery to retail spaces and private homes. He brings the same rigorously simple approach to his furniture design, creating pieces that complement the surroundings, enhancing the experience of space rather than overwhelming it.

Of Pawson Drift Sofa Group, his first collection for Herman Miller, he says, “Like all my work, the sofa is the outcome of a process of stripping right back to the point where one’s primary experience of space and objects is rooted in the quality of proportion, surface, and light.” In life and in design, his guiding principle is this: Include what’s needed, nothing more.