What deals are available?
Herman Miller, Steelcase & Humanscale are all running Thanksgiving Sale Specials with a chance to grab up to an extra 15% off all their office chairs. Miller and Humanscale are offering a 15% saving with Steelcase giving 10%.

This is a great chance to get a top deal on a wide range of high quality ergonomic office chairs

How long do they last?
Each manufacturer’s sale has slightly different dates.

Herman Miller starts their sale today finishing on Monday 12 December 2011
Steelcase starts Thursday 24 November and runs for 1 week until Wednesday 30 November 2011.
Humanscale’s sale starts on Friday 25 November and ends on Monday 12 December 2011

Where can I find the details?
You can find a quick summary of the key points about some of the best chairs on offer using the links below:

Herman Miller Chairs
Aeron chair
Embody chair
Sayl chair
Mirra chair

Steelcase Chairs
Think chair
Amia chair
Leap chair

Humanscale Chairs
Freedom chair
Liberty Chair
Freedom Saddle Seat

So, if you are ready for a new chair this is an excellent opportunity to lock in a great price. Don’t leave it too long because the special pricing will soon be finished.

What’s the deal?
Knoll, Steelcase & Humanscale are running their Fall Sale Special with a chance to grab an extra 15% off all their office chair ranges. The offer covers their office seating ranges offering a great opportunity to get outstanding prices on some quality ergonomic office seats.

How long does the offer last?
Steelcase and Knoll are running their offers until Sunday 2 October 2011, leaving you 10 days days to take advantage of these special prices. Humanscale’s sale runs a day longer finishing on Monday 3 October 2011.

Where can I find the details?
You can find a quick summary of the key points about the chairs on offer together with where to buy them using the links below:

Steelcase Chairs
Think chair
Amia chair
Leap chair

Knoll Seating
Generation chair
Life chair
Barcelona classic seating

Humanscale Chairs
Freedom chair
Liberty Chair
Freedom Saddle Seat

So, if you looking for a new office chair this is an excellent opportunity to lock in a great price. Don’t wait too long though because there’s only 10 days left.

Steelcase Amia Chair

What is on offer?
Steelcase is running a summer sale special with an extra $100 off all its Amia office chair options. So no matter whether you go for the entry level model or a top range leather version it’s a great opportunity to grab an outstanding price on this quality ergonomic office chair.

How long does the offer last?
The summer sale started on Monday 15 August and runs until Sunday 28 August 2011, so as of today that leaves just 11 days to take advantage of this special pricing.

Where can I find the details?
You can find a detailed review on the Amia chair here, including details of where to buy. And here’s a link to a participating Steelcase online store.

So, if you have been thinking about replacing you old chair now is a good time to lock in a great price with a chair like the Amia. It’s a quality built ergonomic office chair with lifetime warranty on structural components, 10 years on mechanism and gas lift and 5 years on upholstery.

Don’t leave it too long though because it all finishes on Sunday 28 August.

Diffrient World Chair

Humanscale has at last launched its latest office seating creation the Diffrient World chair.

Designed by Neils Diffrient after whom the chair is named, it represents his latest ideas on comfortable eco-friendly seating.

He previously designed Humanscale’s Freedom and Liberty models which continue to remain popular ergonomic chairs appealing to a wide range of users.

It’s taken a lot longer than first expected for the Diffrient World to appear.

Why was the launch delayed so long?
It’s been two years since Humanscale first announced the impending launch of the Diffrient World. Whenever a product is developed from scratch, as this one was you can never be 100% certain that everything will turn out as originally planned.

What you expect to work sometimes doesn’t and so it’s a case of modifying and changing things to take care of potential problems. Although Humanscale hasn’t gone into detail on the challenges it’s had it wasn’t going to go to market with a product that wasn’t totally right.

And when you offer an industry beating 15 year warranty on your products, almost right is not enough. So praise to Humanscale for ironing out the glitches first. Let’s take a look at what’s new about the chair.

What’s different about the Diffrient World chair?
The chair is designed to do the thinking for you. Apart from setting the height and the seat length to suit your body everything else is automated. It becomes a case if sit and go.

Simplicity is at the core of the chair. In total there are only 8 components helping to keep costs down. Not only that it only weighs 27 pounds for easy maneuverability. This is a far less than conventional office chairs.

The added benefit is that over 95% of the chair is recyclable when it does eventually need to be replaced.

The chair is suitable for users from 5’ 0” to 6’ 4” tall and weighing between 100 and 300lbs.

Where to find out more about the Diffrient World
Here’s where you find a full review of the Diffrient World chair explaining all about it.

Varier Wing™ Balans® Kneeling Chair

Varier’s Wing™ Balans® chair is considered by many to be the most comfortable kneeling chair available today. Its special features make for a different sitting experience compared to other knee chairs.

First, when you sit on it you’ll notice it doesn’t feel harsh and instead yields softly so it doesn’t jar your body. This is due to a novel rubber flexor connection between seat and gas lift. The result is a comforting damper effect, rather than a hard landing.

Second the knee pads are adjustable, so you can set it up for your exact needs and comfort.

What is changing with the Wing™ Balans®?
Previously the chair was only offered with a wooden base and this came in natural, black or dark brown lacquer finish. Varier has now introduced a plastic base as well.

Why has the new base been introduced?
The addition of a plastic base was made primarily due to cost. And there is no doubt this has made a substantial difference to the price of the Wing™ Balans® as it cost $200 less if you choose to go with the plastic base.

What will happen in the future?
Although you have the choice of selecting either the wood base options or plastic at present, Varier plans to stop production of the wood bases. And so it’s likely they won’t be around for much longer. Even though the wooden bases are much better looking they do add an additional 36% to the cost of the chair. So you can understand Varier’s thinking on this.

I feel it’s a shame that the ability to opt for a wooden base won’t last much longer. And in fact the dark brown base is already on back order. So, if you are thinking of buying a Wing™ Balans® and like the wood base it’s probably best to do so sooner rather than later.

For more on the Wing™ Balans®
Here’s where you will find a review of this excellent kneeling chair and this online seating specialist currently offers all versions of the Wing™ chair.

In my previous post I took a look at Herman Miller’s new Sayl chair with its suspension back inspired by the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Rise Of The Open Cell Back

Sayl Chair Back Detail

The true sophistication of the chair’s back isn’t that obvious although it looks stylish and modern. At first glance the back just appears to be an open plastic mesh, which whilst true, belies its actual capabilities.

Every part of the complex web-like structure has been precision designed to provide just the right amount of comfort and support so users don’t suffer fatigue or discomfort.

Closer examination shows the open web framing uses different thicknesses of material and cell shapes to give you support where it’s most needed while at the same time allowing freedom of movement. As it’s frameless you never feel the constraints of hard edges yet know your back and spine are being taken care of.

Generation Chair Back

When Formway Design came up with the idea for Knoll’s Generation chair it too wanted to produce a chair offering great comfort as well as unrestrained movement. It also opted for an open cell back and yet it’s quite different in design to the Sayl, being partially double skinned in the middle.

It’s largely due to creative thinking and modern materials that these chairs have been introduced. In fact, it’s likely 10 years ago neither product would have been feasible.

Multiple Layer Mesh

Liberty Mesh Back Detail

Another interesting development in chair back design is the advanced use of materials. Take Humanscale’s Liberty chair with its form-sensing technology. It’s made up from 3 panels of mesh cleverly sewn together to create a supportive contoured shape.

Unlike single panel mesh it doesn’t just sag as body weight is applied, instead it displaces and provides proper support and comfort.

Self-Adjusting Chairs
The other big change in recent years is the trend towards self-adjusting chairs. This largely eliminates the need to pull levers and turn knobs as these chairs recognize user movement and respond accordingly.

HÅG’s Futu chair with its inBalance mechanism is a good example of this type of chair. It’s designed to carefully and comfortably support user movement and for those who like to tweak things it has a simple 5 step lever for fine tuning. For most though this isn’t necessary and it’s a question of sit and forget.

What Are The Common Threads In Modern Office Chair Design?
It’s fascinating to see the different innovative ideas designers create and although the result is a diverse range of products there are certain fundamental things they are all working towards.

Taking a look at office seat design over the past 10 years or so the trend is towards:

• Greater comfort, support and overall user experience
• Huge advances in environmentally friendly materials
• Simpler products, automating functions where possible
• Fewer components and overall reduction in the weight of the end product
• Innovative use of modern materials, often never previously used in chairs

Future Trends
Overall there has been a significant improvement in office chair design in recent years and it’s likely that this will continue as manufacturers attempt to keep up with each other.

It’s also true to say that these radical new designs have all come from major players in the office furniture industry. This is unlikely to change as the cost of developing products from scratch can run into millions of dollars and so puts it beyond the reach of all but the largest in the industry.

Jobri Jazzy Kneeling Chair

Until recently if you wanted a Jobri Kneeling Chair you could have any fabric color as long as it was Black. Whilst this probably made inventory very easy to control it was hardly customer friendly.

To help improve things Jobri has recently added the Jazzy model to its range which is an enhanced version of its Solace chair. Jazzy still comes in Black, with the additional option of Red, Blue, Grey and Beige fabric.

As well as this improvement the new addition has a polished aluminum 5 star base and also includes memory foam seat, knee and back pads.

It is surprising how much better the product looks following this upgrade.

It has also decided to change the model names and overall the range is now marketed under the BetterPosture banner. What used to be the Deluxe chair is now known as the Solace and the wood version previously called the Wood Accent now becomes the Classic, not exactly inspiring new model names are they?

Here’s where you can find a more detailed review of the Standard, Solace and Jazzy kneeling chairs and also the Classic wood knee seat.

Herman Miller Sayl™ Chair

Leading office chair manufacturer Herman Miller best known for its Aeron and Embody chairs is launching another offering in mid-January 2011 with its Sayl™ chair.

The chair is the brainchild of designer Yves Béhar who has cleverly applied the principle of suspension bridge design into the new product.

3D Elastomer Suspension Back
The result is an ingeniously designed back which is frameless, so no nasty hard edges digging into your back. Its back is made up of a framework of 3D open cell elastomer strands where varying thicknesses are used to give good support where most needed yet still allowing freedom of movement for the user.

Basic and Highly Adjustable Models + Extras
As Miller chairs go the Sayl™ is competitively priced starting at $399 in its basic format rising to $599 for the highly adjustable model and both versions carry Herman Miller’s 12 year warranty.

To be fair the basic version is somewhat limited having fixed arms, tilt tension for user weight control and height adjustment, although adjustable can be added as an extra.

To get essential features like sliding seat adjustment for optimum leg comfort and height and swivel adjustable arms you need to look to the highly adjustable version. It’s also possible to add some extra features like forward seat tilt for those doing close up computer work. There is an option to add an adjustable lumbar support too which could be handy for lower back pain sufferers.

Launches Mid-January 2011
You can get further information at Herman Miller’s site on the Sayl™ which is due for launch early New Year and I plan to add a full review of this chair in January. Miller is expecting a lot of interest in its new chair and this site is already taking Sayl™ pre-orders for what is likely to be a popular product.

Next week sees two major office furnishings exhibitions, one each side of the Atlantic and both well represented with office chairs.

The Wilkhahn ON Chair

First, Orgatec 2010 in Cologne, Germany runs from 26 – 30 October, it’s held every two years and is Europe’s leading office furniture exhibition. Although it covers all facets of the office furnishings market, chairs for the office will be well represented.

Amongst the exhibitors is Wilkhahn and its funky new ON chair looks intriguing. The chair’s revolutionary support system really does move wherever you move and Das Büro magazine voted it the clear winner in an evaluation of 10 different swivel chairs. The ON and other Wilkhahn products can be seen in Hall 6.1 Stand B88/89.

Meanwhile in the US NeoCon East 2010 runs for 2 days on October 28 and 29. In all there are 250 exhibitors at the Baltimore Convention Center, covering a very wide range of Architectural Products, Floor coverings, Furniture, Lighting, Textiles and Wallcoverings.

Despite the wide variety of products office seating plays a leading role as 10% of the exhibitors are office chair companies, including major players like Haworth, Herman Miller, HON, Humanscale, Knoll and Steelcase.

So, whichever side of the pond you are, each exhibition offers an excellent opportunity to see a wide range of office seating at first hand.

5 Way Adjustable Arm

Neutral Posture has recently upgraded its adjustable arms and these are available  for all its chairs.

The previous arms already had great functionality.

However its new 5 way arms offer outstanding adjustability and flexibility and are unequaled in features on any other office chair I know.

Here’s what you can do with these latest arms and all this can be achieved while still sitting in you chair.

Armrest Height
The arms can be adjusted over a generous 4 inches in height, simply press the squeeze button on the side and move them up or down to suit your needs. This gives the ability to set them in a choice of 10 different positive pre-set positions.

Arm Angle Rotation
The head of the arm can be rotated through a full 360° and set in a choice of 24 different angle settings. This is very useful for different tasks like data entry, reading books and reports, intensive mousing etc.

The settings are easily controlled by a squeeze lever under the arm.

Arm Pad Side To Side Setting
This is a fine tuning adjustment allowing the width of the arms to be varied by an 1 inch to ensure the arm pads are fully supporting your arms correctly.

Arm Pad Front To Back Adjustment
A very useful feature when you need to get in closer to your work and still have good arm support. It enables the user to move the arms 2 inches front to back and is controlled by a squeeze button on the edge of the arm pad.

Arm Width
This is a feature far too few office chairs have and allows you to adjust the overall width of the arms by up to 4 inches. Using a simple lock release lever at the base of the arm makes setting this up very easy.

This feature is likely to be useful if you have narrow shoulders as it will enable you to support your arms squarely. All too often fixed width arms are too wide for smaller framed users and they end up having to splay their arms outwards which can cause discomfort when working.

All in all the flexibility and comfort of these arms with their soft urethane pads are unrivaled; here’s where you can find more detail on the 5-Way 360° adjustable arms. This article takes a look at Neutral Posture’s most popular office chair ranges.