He had graduated in industrial design from Pratt Institute and was working full-time in New York City when he learned he would be studying at the Danish Design School in Copenhagen on a Fulbright scholarship—in three weeks. Studying abroad to gain a more global view of design was part of his career plan. Even so, realizing he had actually won the scholarship caught him a bit off guard, says Bracher, who recalls listening to Danish tapes on the way to the airport to learn a few common phrases. “But that experience taught me that you can be thrown into something and learn. Once you know that, you realize there are no limits.”

That was in 1999. Over the next 10 years, he lived in four countries, learning something different about design in each. In Denmark, he learned about material integrity; in Italy, the importance of history in design; in France, elegance in the way materials come together; in England, the designer’s identity. After learning about brand strategy when he returned to New York in 2006, “I was able to bring all those world experiences together and put them to work,” he says.

That decade of periodic immersion in new cultures exemplifies his passion for discovery. “Not knowing calls for careful study, and careful study leads to discovery,” says Bracher, who designed the Distil Desk and Table for Herman Miller. He finds inspiration in things like physics, chemistry, and Cindy Crawford’s beauty mark—which inspired the Tod Table for Zanotta.

“I was trying to figure out what made her famous; it was her beauty mark. If you take that away, what’s left?” says Bracher. “So what makes a space special? The idea was to create a table that was beautiful with something extra—something that makes the space a little more special.”

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