Michael Graves (1934 - 2015) was born in Indianapolis. Having graduated with a degree in architecture from the University of Cincinnati, Graves spent a year working in the office of George Nelson, Creative Director of Herman Miller. Having been the recipient of the prestigious Prix de Rome, Graves spent two years at the American Academy in Rome. In 1962, he became a professor of architecture at Princeton University. While known for his modern architecture in the 1960s and 1970s, Graves embraced postmodernism in the late 1970s and perhaps some of his best-known work - architecture and furnishings - were created in the last two decades of the 20th century. Seminal pieces of architecture like the Portland Building, Oregon (1982) and the Humana Building, Louisville (1982), the Newark Museum, New Jersey (1982), and the Carlos Museum (1993). As an industrial designer, he created several pieces for Alessi, Swid Powell, and Target.