The February 2010 edition of Men’s Journal takes a look at 9 different office chair models:

• Herman Miller’s Embody
• Knoll’s Generation Chair
• Humanscale’s Freedom Chair
• Zody from Haworth
• HÅG Futu
• Steelcase Think Chair
• Evolution Ball Chair
• Kore Stool

Pick of the bunch not surprisingly was Miller’s Embody chair scoring a near maximum whereas the least favored was the Kore Stool mainly because it requires the user to balance on it which can be tiring after a time when muscles aren’t toned, mind you at little more than 10% of the cost of the winner maybe the result wasn’t so surprising.

Also the UK’s Financial Times weekend edition for 13 February 2010 carried an article on 4 top end models:

• Herman Miller’s Embody Chair
• Herman Miller’s Setu
• Steelcase Think Chair
• Humanscale’s Diffrient World Chair (not yet officially released)

With more and more senior managers spending part of their week working in their home office demand for better quality office seating appears to be on the rise.

HÅG of Norway is no longer producing its Peter Opsvik designed Balans kneeling chair which has been a part of its seating range for over 26 years.

Although it has never been a major product for them, it sold steadily over the years and was popular with people who find conventional chairs didn’t suit them. It was certainly amongst the best kneeling chairs particularly from a quality and design viewpoint.

If you had thought you might like to own one, fortunately it may still possible to get hold of one from ErgoDepot.com who still has a few available.

If you would like to understand more about this specialist seat, here’s where you can find a review of the HÅG Balans chair.

Just uploaded is a review of the Generation by Knoll™ chair which won a NeoCon Gold award for best task chair in Chicago in June last year.

It offers amazing flexibility as you sit in it thanks to advanced plastics more usually found in domestic appliances and cleverly re-used here giving users great support and comfort however you choose to sit.

The seat and back give a far greater range of movement compared to most office chairs and no matter how you sit the memory encoded plastic returns the chair to the upright position once you leave the chair.

Here’s where to will find the full review of the Generation.

I bet you’ve probably never thought about what goes into the design of a new office chair nonetheless you will find this SolidSmack article fascinating.

It isn’t about producing a new model by going out and sourcing some ready made components and sticking them all together hoping that they will work, it’s about designing a new chair from scratch.

It talks about Herman Miller’s Setu chair, who selected Berlin’s Studio 7.5 to come up with what they wanted, a go anywhere chair needing no adjustment which just fits the user from the get go.

A tall order. Here’s how it became a reality.

Office ergonomics product specialist Humanscale has scooped no less than 6 awards at last week’s IIDEX.

It gained 3 Gold innovation awards including its Diffrient World chair due for imminent release, Element LED task light and V7 Wall Station intended for use in the healthcare market. A Silver award was also gained for its ultra flexible 6G keyboard support mechanism.

Bronze awards were achieved with its L6 Notebook manager which lets laptop users view the screen at a safe height and its new sleek M2 monitor arm for perfect positioning of flat panel monitors.

Kneelsit the Australian kneeling seat specialist has revised prices for its highly versatile kneeling chair and there is some good news as well as bad news.

The good news is it has reduced the cost of its top of the range leather model by $150 to $649, the not so good news is it has had to increase the fabric model price by $50 to $549 due to increased production and shipping costs.

These chairs are extremely well made carrying a 15 year warranty and it’s fair to say one of these kneeling chairs whilst by no means cheap will probably last you a lifetime.

Varier has decided to upgrade its Variable Balans Kneeling Chair backrest option into a standard model instead of an add on component as before.

The main good news of this change is the cost of the backrest component has been reduced by 40% and so will make this version more affordable and attractive for those who like the idea of including a backrest on their kneeling chair.

Here’s where you will find a full review of the Variable Balans range detailing the available options.

The Thatsit Balans Kneeling Chair takes the original idea from the Variable Balans chair to the next level.

Here designer Peter Opsvik has added some great additional features for improving adjustability and comfort.

This allows users to adjust several important components and so gain a better working position, here’s what is included:

• Adjustable Knee Rests To Fit Varying Sizes Of User
• Adjustable Seat Depth To Allow For Individual Leg Size
• Adjustable Back Height For Reclining Comfort (Where Fitted)

These small but significant changes can make all the difference allowing users to tailor the ThatSit to their personal needs.

You will find the full review of the Thatsit Balans here.

Imagine an office chair which has a two word instruction manual? – sit down.

In a radical departure from its normal office chair designs having multiple adjustments Herman Miller® has created a range of seating which can be used by almost anyone in widely differing office settings, it really is sit and go.

There is in fact one adjustment and this is seat height, apart from this it really is a question of just sitting down and starting work as the unique design of its kinetic spine adapts to whatever sitting position the user chooses to take.

Miller collaborated with Germany’s Studio 7.5 on the design of the Setu™, previously working with each other on the Mirra® chair.

Office working continues to be less reliant on dedicated workstations as people become more mobile in their work habits and so the need to offer a range of seating requiring no user input and take the thinking out of sitting comfortably makes sense.

Setu™ includes multipurpose chairs with either a 5 star aluminum base with casters or a 4 star base with glides. There is also a high back lounge chair too with the same base options as well as an ottoman for resting those tired legs on.

Setu™ has the potential to be a really big seller and the product can be seen at NeoCon Floor 3 Stand 321 June 15 – 17.

NeoCon World’s Trade Fair 2009 runs next week in Chicago for 15 – 17 June and will be host to over 600 companies involved in office interiors.

Although office furniture and seating are major categories, NeoCon covers the whole gamut of office interiors, from floor coverings and textile to lighting and art.

Full details of who is exhibiting at NeoCon can be found here.