H09 Inspiration Chair

HÅG’s H09 series replaced its old Signet chair which many will be familiar with as it was the chair used on the bridge of the Star Trek Enterprise and I’m sure Captain Kirk and the crew would be happy with the new version.

The H09 represents HÅG’s flagship offering in executive office chairs.

Designed and made in Norway these chairs are built to a high standard with great detailing which will appeal to those who seek the best in style and comfort.

HÅG offers 3 models in Europe, however it chose to drop the most traditional model the Classic in the North American market, preferring to stick with the 2 most popular models the Inspiration and the Excellence.

The Inspiration has a high mesh back, whereas the Excellence is an all leather version and both offer wide ranging adjustability and comfort.

You can read more about both models in this review.

Chair Makeover™

If you struggle to get comfortable when sitting for any length of time a Chair Makeover™ could well help.

This lightweight portable body support has been designed to provide lasting comfort for virtually any type of seat with a back.

It is made from high quality visco-elastic foam which eases pressure to the legs and back. Incorporated within the back is a pre-formed lightweight steel frame shaped to follow the natural curve of the user’s spine. This provides both proper lower and upper back support.

The Chair Makeover™ comes finished in a durable hygienic fabric in a choice of 5 different colors and folds neatly in half when not in use.

It works well with a wide variety of sitting situations including the office, home, restaurants, auditoriums, autos and public transport.

Whatever seat you have to sit in, as long as it has a back this handy portable seat comforter should help improve things.

You can find a more detailed review of the Chair Makeover™ here.

Xten Office Chair by Pininfarina

Although this might sound like an odd question it’s actually one there is a plausible answer for.

And the reason is Pininfarina, the esteemed Italian design firm responsible for some of those beautiful shapes you see in Ferrari and Maserati autos, has turned its hand to office chair design.

It has produced the Xten ergonomic office chair investing some $1.5 million in the process and the result is a truly beautiful looking chair.

However its beauty is definitely not just skin deep, and it’s clear a great deal of attention and design input has gone into creating the Xten.

The seat utilizes Dynatec fabric used by Olympic athletes, it is durable and comfortable and is particularly good at keeping users cool as it pulls moisture away from the body.

The seat pad incorporates Technogel® to even weight distribution and so relieving pressure points when sitting.

The chair’s Armtronic® system gives very precise arm level adjustment and this is controlled by a sophisticated gas piston simply operated by a push button control under the arm.

Xten also has all the other adjustments you would expect on a top end ergonomic chair including seat depth, height and tension control, and the advanced synchronized tilting that reclines the chair to match the way the human back works. It also has a built in height adjustable headrest and an 8 step locking recliner.

Clearly a chair built to this standard is never going to be cheap, although at a current net selling price of $1695 it’s not hugely more expensive than some other top end chairs.

You can find further details on the Xten at www.Xtenchair.com

Howe 40/4 Chair

When Contract Magazine asked destinguished designer Carl Magnusson to produce a list of the top 10 interior products of the past 50 years, it wasn’t surprising he included 3 chairs in his final list, after all office chairs are an integral part of any office interior.

It also didn’t surprise me when he placed the 40/4 by David Rowland as his top choice.

This wonderfully versatile chair launched in 1964 is a masterpiece of design and although 40/4 may look like nothing more than a part number it actually defines the chair.

40/4 Chair Stacked

First 40 is the number of chairs which can be placed in a single stack, pretty amazing in its own right and yet equally incredible is when stacked 40 high it only takes up a stacking height of 4 feet and remains stable as a rock.

Can you imagine trying to stack the average office stacking meeting chair 40 high? You would need a scaffold to stop them falling over and a fork lift to place them in position.

I have supplied hundreds of these chairs over the years, they are so versatile and can be used in many different areas like waiting rooms, auditoriums, conference and training areas and out of the office they are very popular with churches too.

Sapper Chair

In position 7 was Knoll’s Sapper chair first released in 1985, named after its designer Richard Sapper and still part of its current range.

The chair was the first to utilize auto industry construction techniques giving a slim line appearance and creating a far more attracive looking chair and quickly making traditionally heavily foamed chairs look bulky and dated.

Aeron Chair

Finally, position 8 went to Herman Miller’s Aeron chair which is no surprise as it is probably the best known office seat of all time with well over a million sold around the world.

For many people it still represents the chair of their dreams and still maintains a huge following.

It’s interesting to note all 3 of these products are still going strong many years after they first appeared, which is surely an indicator of the significance of good product design.

You can find full details of the top 10 products in March issue of Contract magazine.

It is almost exclusively self adjusting and apart from setting the height users can leave it all up to the chair to work out the most comfortable and supportive position to place you in.

All this has been achieved by using just 8 major components with the chair actually functioning without a mechanism and incorporating form-sensing mesh upholstery for perfect back and lumbar support removing the need for manually adjustable components.

The only downside is the chair still isn’t officially launched and doesn’t look like appearing until early summer 2010.

However, Diffrient World is only one of Humanscale’s award winning chairs and the good news it is running a promotion on all its products offering an additional 15% saving on current prices.

Follow these links for reviews and details on the savings on the Freedom chair and Saddle seat as well as the Liberty chair, which are all great products in their own rights.

• 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.