Office chair design has improved in leaps and bounds in the past 20 years, and yet there are still a huge amount of task chairs being made today built around the same old technology that existed 30 years ago.

Why is this? A lot of it has to do with the cost of tooling to make new components. It just costs a lot of money to create a new chair from the ground up.

It’s far easier to take what already exists and just tweak its appearance a little, rather like an automobile design where cars get facelifts every couple of years to prolong the life of a model.

Exactly the same thing happens with chairs. The basic guts of the thing, the bits you don’t see, stay the same. However, by reshaping the seat and back and maybe changing the base design, it’s possible to make the old appear new.

Fortunately, some companies are prepared to start with a blank sheet of paper and to do something radically different. Not surprising these tend to be the bigger players in the market who have the necessary resources and have a genuine desire to produce a substantially different and innovative chair.

Typically these manufacturers will do extensive market research into what problems users face and then go about creating a solution.

One of the big trends in recent years has been the launch of much simpler chairs, where the user just adjusts the height and maybe a couple of other things.

The chair has an inbuilt ability to anticipate what the user is doing by sensing their body movements as it self-adjusts and supports the user comfortably during the working day.

This is largely a good thing, as the majority of people don’t want to fiddle with loads of levers and buttons. Examples of these types of chairs include the HÅG Futu, Knoll’s Generation, and HumanScale’s Freedom and Liberty chairs.

Other manufacturers like Herman Miller and Steelcase prefer to create new models based on new technology and yet still let the user have lots of control over the settings.

Modern products like the Embody from Herman Miller, and the Think and Leap from Steelcase allow more user adjustment.

The one big downside with all of these new innovations comes down to cost. All that expensive design and tooling has to be paid for and as a result, chairs like these tend to start around the $500 mark.

This is why old, outdated seat design continues to be commonplace. Most of the components used in old-style seating can simply be bought off the shelf from component manufacturers who are geared up to turn out the various mechanisms and parts cheaply and quickly.

This results in a gulf in prices between old style models and newer ground breaking chairs, and once you try out one of these new breed of chairs and discover how superior they are, you will truly understand why they leave the same-old, same-old in the dust.

For day 3 of replace the office chair turkey it’s time to call on the other office seating giant Herman Miller which has the distinction of producing what has become the best known chair brand in the world, the Aeron®.

Since launch in 1994 the chair has been hugely successful and features on many peoples’ wish list of their ideal chair.

It is a great chair for those preferring a firm seating position and like the idea of good air circulation on those hot summer days.

Miller actually has many models in its different ranges and one which has been creating quite a buzz is the Embody, launched a year ago and already proving highly popular with office workers and some users report it feels like they are floating when sitting in it.

You can read more about these 2 highly popular models in these reviews.

• Aeron® Chair Review
• Embody Chair Review

Tomorrow I’ll be looking at Neutral Posture which has quietly built an enviable reputation for producing some excellent office seating solutions over the past 20 years.

Links to earlier articles in this series
Gobble Up The Office Chair Turkey This Thanksgiving
Replace The Office Chair Turkey – Day 1 HÅG Seating
Replace The Office Chair Turkey – Day 2 Steelcase

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.

“aeron chair may be smartest investment i ever made, 7 years later,
it is still going strong. $0.31 / day… i got my moneys worth”

This recent tweet on Twitter shows the importance of applying the right mindset when buying an office chair.

Here is someone who bit the bullet and shelled out $800 for an Aeron® and was prepared to do so because they viewed it as a long term investment.

And 7 years later they are still deriving the benefits that a good chair can bring long after they got over the shock of the initial outlay.

Whilst I realize not everyone has $800 to spend on an office chair, those who can afford it should bear in mind it’s likely they would buy 3 budget chairs over the same time period as well as suffering from a lack of comfort cheap chairs usually bring.

An Aeron® is far from the only quality office chair in town, simply the best known, here are several others which will last you 7 years and more along with their daily cost of ownership.

• HÅG Futu daily cost of ownership $0.25
• Steelcase Think® daily cost of ownership $0.27
• Steelcase Leap® daily cost of ownership $0.34
• Humanscale Freedom daily cost of ownership $0.38
• Herman Miller Embody™ daily cost of ownership $0.47

And when you take into account the great comfort, support and productivity any of these chairs will give you then the price no longer seems so daunting.

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.

When Herman Miller launched its new Embody chair online I remarked on this Blog I was taken back at the price tag and felt that given a couple of years the cost would come down.

So I was more than a little surprised to find Miller has now dropped the price by around $200 which means that an Embody fitted with arms is now $1,199 making it a lot closer in price to their popular Aeron chair.

And whilst it’s a great chair it is still nearly double the cost of HÅG’s new Futu chair, which has to represent outstanding value and would undoubtedly be higher priced if better known.

Not familiar with HÅG? It’s been making chairs in Norway for a long time, and was the first chair manufacturer to introduce seat depth adjustment with its Peter Opsvik designed model 2010 way back in 1975.

Incredibly, this vital adjustment for personal leg comfort is still missing from the vast majority of office chairs, needless to say the Futu and Embody both include it.

Follow the links for reviews of both the Embody and Futu chairs.

Back in the day, IBM made a lot of sales to big corporations because it was perceived as a safe bet, it was the biggest and made quality products. The underlying rationale of many buyers was nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.

And I’m the first to admit I still use an IBM clicky keyboard, date of manufacture 19 May 1993, still looks like new , weighs 2 kgs and it’s built like a tank.

In many respects the same logic is true in office chairs Herman Miller’s Aeron, is if you like the IBM of office seating. It’s probably the best known office chair of all time and with over a 1,000,000 in use worldwide it’s also likely sold more than any other model too.

For all that, good as the Aeron is, it’s not necessarily the best chair ever, but it’s certainly the most successful.

In the quality end of the chair market there is a number of chairs which are its equal and some would argue are better.

Some like Steelcase’s Leap and Think or Humanscale’s Freedom chair are quite well known, others like HÅG’s Capisco and its excellent recently introduced Futu model are less well known.

And while it’s true to say you probably wouldn’t go wrong buying an Aeron, it’s also fair to say there are a lot of very good quality alternatives many will overlook because the makers lack the big budget marketing machines to make them better known.

I would encourage anyone looking to replace their chair to by all means look at the Aeron as well as giving consideration to some of these models as they could even become tomorrow’s stars.

Now that Herman Miller’s new Embody chair has officially launched online many will have been taken aback by its opening price tag of about $1500.

I must admit I had expected a price nearer $1000 especially in these challenging economic times were are currently experiencing.

Given Miller has spent 7 years perfecting and delivering the finished product, its financial outlay so far must be very considerable and clearly it will be looking to recoup these costs.

So, it’s perhaps understandable the price has been set higher than many thought, after all it follows that the best time to charge a good price for a product is when it’s new, demand is high and there is a buzz about it.

I don’t see much change in the short term on pricing, although I feel it’s likely in a couple of years from now discounts will start increasing as it becomes more mainstream.

Is it worth the money?

Returning to the question is it worth laying out $1500 on an Embody? The answer to this will depend on a person’s individual circumstances.

Obviously first you have to be able to afford one and assuming you can cross this bridge comfortably the next point to consider is your work environment and habits.

Should you only spend a few hours each day working at a computer justifying the outlay is difficult.

However, if you spend long hours each day at a PC and perhaps suffer discomfort and aches it probably makes sense to consider the outlay required for something like the Embody chair.

Much like investing in plant and machinery to increase output and productivity buying such a chair needs to be seen in the same light, it’s an investment in your productivity and comfort. Herman Miller’s warranty period is 12 years so if you look at your outlay over this period it comes out at $125 for the likely minimum life of the chair.

And if the chair lives up to the benefits it promises for your comfortable support it makes the initial outlay begin to look less daunting.

Of course you may have just fallen in love with its design and curves and simply have to have one and providing you can afford it, why not?

Finally it should be remembered there are plenty of other high quality chairs at around half the cost or less of the Embody which will likely serve you very well. So what do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Embody especially if you’ve been lucky enough to have got one.

For more information on the Embody chair you can find a review of it here as well as a more detailed article on some of the key design, features and functions of the chair.

It’s been nearly 6 months since details of Herman Miller’s new Embody chair first started to appear and now the wait is over as it has finally been launched.

Embody is certainly Miller’s most radical new seating product since the Aeron and incorporates a number of innovative new design features.

There’s the Backform support system designed to mimic every movement of your spine resulting in proper back support without uncomfortable frame components digging into your body.

Or the seat which incorporates 3 individual springing layers in turn upholstered in a completely new breathable fabric for great support and comfort on the hottest days.

Here’s where you can find an overview review of the Embody chair.

It’s perhaps not surprising people feel confused researching and buying something like a humble office chair when you consider the amount of misinformation on the internet today. And this is true of many things you find on websites presented as factual which are often anything but.

To an extent this is understandable, for example chairs described as ergonomic office chairs can be almost anything as there is no finite definition of what ergonomic means when describing office seating and believe me some stretch the imagination to its limits with their “ergonomic” offerings.

However, some things are clear cut and so there is no excuse for getting it wrong. I was struck by this today when reading an article about Herman Miller chairs, in which the author refers to Herman Miller the person in the present tense as though he is still a key member of staff at Herman Miller Inc.

Whilst it’s true to say he was one of the company’s founders in the early 1920s its highly unlikely he is still alive, nonetheless I’m not going to say he is or isn’t as I simply don’t know.

The article goes on to give the impression that Herman Miller is responsible for producing the Liberty and Freedom chairs, which are in fact products from Humanscale.

All this is highly misleading for someone starting out researching office chairs and whilst we can’t be expected to get every little detail right, such obvious inaccuracies do nobody any favors.

Do you have any good examples of fiction presented as fact?