Fueled by the popularity of television shows like "Mad Men," there are a lot of folks who are crazy for American-midcentury modern design these days.

Design junkies should be thrilled by the big show opening this weekend at the Bellevue Arts Museum, which showcases design genius George Nelson, a giant in the industry who not only introduced iconic designs like the Coconut Chair, Marshmallow Sofa and Bubble Lamp but fostered the careers of other design greats like Charles Eames and Isamu Noguchi.

Even if you have more traditional, global or contemporary tastes, this traveling exhibition is worth visiting because it offers a window on the lifestyle philosophy of America of the late 1940s, '50s and '60s.

Surrounded by chairs, desks, lamps, clocks and modular storage systems created out of shiny metal, shapely plastic and slim, polished bentwood, visitors will be immersed in the look and feel of an era that generated so many forms still with us today. (Who knew that Nelson introduced the ubiquitous L-shaped desk and slat-wood bench?)

Of course, the sleek lines, abstract forms and industrial materials, which are now deemed retro, were fresh and exciting then. But this approach to architecture, furniture and household objects wasn't only about developing a new, chic aesthetic. Nelson believed it was driven by a radical rethinking of how we use spaces and objects and how those uses make us feel.

Trained as an architect at Yale, Nelson was also a writer and educator who believed that the increasingly man-made environment needed to be addressed in a holistic, emotional and functional way.

BAM curator Nora Atkinson states that Nelson started his process by "seeking solutions for the use and the user instead of copying previous design," always thinking of ways to make his home or office designs "user-friendly and emotionally available."

Using manufacturing processes and materials that came out of World War II (like a modular approach to fabrication and a foam that was used for storing aviation equipment), Nelson wanted to make high-end but economically viable designs available to the burgeoning middle class.

Highlights of the exhibition include the original, small-scale mock-up and a partial, to-scale re-creation of Nelson's design for the American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959. Hired by the United States Information Agency to promote American innovations and ideals during the Cold War, Nelson created a gigantic, modular framework of open-view cube spaces to house American products and lifestyle ideas.

The famous "Kitchen Debate" between Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev took place in a fully automated kitchen within Nelson's exhibition space, a clear example of the interrelationship between worldview and design.

Fast-forwarding to the Pacific Northwest of the 21st century, the George Nelson retrospective represents the most ambitious design exhibition hosted at a local institution since the Isamu Noguchi exhibition at The Seattle Art Museum in 2005.

Organized by the highly regarded Vitra Design Museum in Germany, which owns many of the objects on view, the Nelson show reflects the international importance of this pivotal figure in American design.

According to Atkinson, it's the most expensive traveling exhibition yet acquired by BAM, an auspicious indication of the museum's increasing interest in design.