Herman Miller opens its largest North American store with 'Hot Line'

By Priya Raman

Herman Miller has commissioned photographer Tag Christof's show 'Hot Line' to mark the opening of its largest retail location in North America. The store sits at 73-425 El Paseo, Suite 110, Palm Desert, California. The exhibition opens this week, days before the Palm Springs Modernism Week preview launches on 15 October and runs through 18 October 2026.

The timing is deliberate. Palm Springs remains the Californian hub of midcentury modern (the architecture movement spanning roughly the 1930s–1960s). Christof's photographs, produced specifically for this show, capture the region's modernist buildings and trace their evolution. The work doesn't stop at nostalgia. It documents contemporary use, preservation and adaptation — the 20th-century buildings often transformed for new functions and ways of life.

Christof puts it plainly. 'I love these buildings because, even in states of change or transition, they are totems of a time of surging optimism that feels impossible today,' he said.

What does the show change for Herman Miller?

The brand frames the commission as an extension of its own ethos. Herman Miller global creative directors Kim Colin and Sam Hecht said: 'Herman Miller helps people be comfortable living with change – not just surviving it but living with it, thriving, and understanding its potential as a beautiful way of life, both physically and atmospherically. Tag's photographs capture the beauty of change and the possibility of something new.'

That's a retail strategy as much as a curatorial statement. The company pairs its biggest North American footprint with Palm Springs' established midcentury legacy. Mixing that heritage with modern-day stewardship and adaptation, the show builds a platform for debate on what modernism means today — and how it can live on.

When and where to see it

'Hot Line' runs until Modernism Week 2027 in February. The venue: Herman Miller, 73-425 El Paseo, Suite 110, Palm Desert, CA 92260.

For visitors heading to the Modernism Week preview (15–18 October 2026), the exhibition offers a compact prelude: one photographer, one region, and a clear argument that modernist buildings stay relevant precisely because they keep changing.