A Design for Living

Paralysis And Growth

A year earlier, that was not so certain. Graves's annus horribilis started innocuously enough, with a sinus infection that was more of an annoyance than a cause for alarm. In February 2003, Graves and three members of his team headed to Frankfurt for Ambiente, the giant international consumer-goods fair. Graves, a notoriously indefatigable 68-year-old, seemed uncharacteristically tired. His traveling companions chalked it up to a combination of a nagging head cold, the rigors of covering the vast show, and jet lag from an itinerary that had sent him ping-ponging around the globe.

"Michael cleaned me out of Sudafed," says David Peschel, a product-design director who had come along. Graves's doctor had given him two vials of medicine for the trip: one an antibiotic, the other a decongestant. Thinking it was just a double supply of the same medicine, Graves took only the decongestant. His symptoms eased, but the infection remained. After Frankfurt, Graves continued his breakneck travel schedule, stopping to see a client in Geneva before heading back to New York.

Five days later, back at his office in Princeton, his condition worsened. "He was sitting at a meeting that Monday morning with his head in his hands, and said, 'I've got to go home,' " says Karen Nichols, who is one of the firms' principals. "That was only the second time in 17 years that I'd heard him say he didn't feel well enough to work."

At home that night, Graves, who lived alone, phoned his neighbor to ask if she would call an ambulance and take care of his dog. Doctors at the Princeton hospital were baffled by his symptoms, which included a low-grade fever and excruciating nerve pain in his back, a sensation Graves has described as a dentist's drilling a tooth without novocaine. Nichols and Susan Howard, another partner at the firms, spent the night at his bedside. "During the night, he kept screaming in pain," says Nichols. "No amount of painkiller could do anything. It was awful." At about 3 a.m., Graves said he couldn't feel his legs. Given all the morphine and Demerol he had received, the doctors were not especially alarmed. But by morning, they realized there might be real paralysis.

Graves was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where the paralysis was temporarily arrested. He was there for six weeks before being moved to the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, a clinic in West Orange, New Jersey, that had served as the rehabilitation facility for fellow Princetonian Christopher Reeve. The exact cause of the infection has never been resolved -- it may have been transverse myelitis, a viral infection, or bacterial meningitis. In April, Graves's condition began to worsen, with the paralysis creeping perilously up his spine and threatening to compromise the use of his hands -- and his ability to draw. He sought out a doctor in Miami who specializes in spinal-cord injuries, and who stopped the paralysis from spreading. Since the first of the year, Graves has been in and out of various hospitals as his health has waxed and waned. Most recently, he has been back in the office, supervising projects, accompanying his architects on new business pitches, and making the occasional trip to New York to collect an award, or to Minneapolis to visit Target.

Stunningly, while their founder and guiding spirit has been sidelined, Graves's firms have had banner years. In July 2003, the product-design practice was spun off into a separate business, Michael Graves Design Group. Over the past 18 months, it launched more than 100 new pieces for Dansk's tabletop china line; rolled out its first collection for Delta Faucet Co., a line of 60 products, including kitchen faucets and showerheads; produced 19 area rugs for Glen Eden, the carpet company; delivered two collections of chairs and accent pieces for furniture maker David Edward; and created more than 100 products for Target, ranging from a souped-up toilet brush to a dartboard. In fiscal 2004, total retail sales for the group's products are estimated at $174 million, up from $95 million in 2003. Meanwhile, the architectural practice, Michael Graves & Associates, has won a variety of new projects, ranging from a library in Beacon, New York, to a hotel in Beirut, Lebanon, to a courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee, and business schools for both Temple University and the University of Miami (a deal Graves brokered from his Florida hospital bed). It now has more than $800 million in projects under construction or on the boards.

"Despite Michael's illness, the practice has had its most expansive year ever," says Nichols. "We've always relied on the diversity of our services and product lines as part of our business model, but this year we tackled new categories and made a commitment to growing new areas of the practice."