Consisting of a five-drawer unit, a file drawer unit, multiple shelves, a drop front desk with fittings, a drop front desk without fittings, a pigeon hole unit, three drawers, and a table/desk. N.B. This is a 5 pole unit that includes a number of additional shelves and their respective brackets.Provenance: The Estate of Royce G. Engel (1930-2023)Royce G. Engel worked as an innovative mechanical engineer over the course of his long career that was spent mostly at General Motors, McDonnell Douglas and Engel Systems (that he founded in 1976). In the midst of those years dedicated to a wide variety of engineering projects, he spent three years as the Director of Technical Research at Herman Miller (1959-1962), an office furniture and residential furniture manufacturer based in Zeeland, Michigan. Engel holds patents as co-inventor for two highly successful furniture product innovations assigned to Herman Miller: the Herman Miller Furniture Comprehensive Storage System Bracket and the the Herman Miller Furniture Dress Strip.In his innovative and influential position as Technical Center Director, Engel worked at the nexus of Herman Miller furniture prototypes, designs and collections—including those held by Engel himself that Link is proudly offering at auction, including what we believe is Engel's own original prototype for the Comprehensive Storage System.The Nelson Comprehensive Storage System uses poles, shelves and specially designed components to make a wall prosper for work, display and storage. Poles, install clips, and slip components had mounting brackets installed on them directly at the factory, and in that fashion, all such components could be changed or re-arranged at any time. This overall wall-based work station could include a mix of desk spaces, file drawers, file bins, organizers, a dictaphone unit, pigeon-holed units, various shelves, mirrored panels, and glass sliding doors over select storage areas. This innovative mid-century work/display/storage system mounts directly on a wall thanks to many specialized bracket pairs—so the entire system would not have come into existence without Engel’s bracket invention (patented 19 June 1962). An original fold-out “CSS Workbook” cleverly demonstrates in a concrete manner (thanks to flip pages) how the wall units could be potentially arranged in a myriad of ways. This iconic mid-century design system is part of the permanent collection of museums and famous collections around the globe including the Vitra Design Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian, et al. The Herman Miller Furniture Dress Strip patent relates to an upholstered assembly with a protective decorative edge strip assembly on upholstered, pre-formed chair shells (patented 25 October 1963).Despite his brief three-year tenure at Herman Miller, Engel played such an important role in the development of the company that in January of 1962 he was offered a special gift (something offered to only a select few awardees): access to purchase the company’s original stock. Along with George Nelson, Charles Eames and other famous designers and exceptional workers, it was offered to Engel as part of the innovative team at Herman Miller because his “life and talents are so involved in this project.” The stock offered “an additional opportunity to share in the rewards and satisfaction of ownership and in such appreciation of the company’s worth.”Together with the original CSS Workbook, Herman Miller Inc.