1919-2006 (United States) Warren Platner graduated from the Cornell University School of Architecture in 1941, and soon after he started working in the offices of legendary designers Eero Saarinen and I.M. Pei. He opened his own New Haven office in 1967, which quickly became an important design studio, creating furniture, lighting and textiles, as well as interiors. Platner outlined the definition of a ‘classic’ as being: something that every time you look at it, you accept it as it is and you see no way of improving it.