The Quest for the Perfect Office Chair

“Office chairs are like shoes, but not as much fun. We spend much of our time in them. They emphasize differences in status and taste. They affect the way our bodies feel. But unlike the shoes we wear to work, most of us don’t get to pick out our office chairs. Your work chair is just there, provided for you by your employer.”

In her today’s article Heather Murphy of Slate explores the history of an office chair – from the first documented evidence of body-conscious seating found in 3000 B.C. to the kneeling chair of 1979 and recent creations – a valuable and fun read for any chair design enthusiast.

How do you measure a good office chair?

 

The chair pictured is a Thomas E. Warren’s Centripetal Spring Armchair for American Arm Chair Company, USA, 1949 (courtesy Jonathan Olivares/A Taxonomy of Office Chairs/Phaidon).

Artificial Grass Chair: Aeron by Makoto Azuma

Makoto Azuma collaborated with Herman Miller to create this custom Aeron chair covered in green AstroTurf, a type of artificial grass. The chair’s functional parts, like the wheels and knobs are left uncovered for easy operation. The chair will be on display at the Tokyo Herman Miller store this summer.

Catifa 46 by Lievore Altherr Molina for Arper at Skype Offices in Stockholm

Catifa 46 chair designed by Lievore Altherr Molina for Arper is one of the many great seating furniture pieces used by Swedish firm PS Arkitektur in their designing of the new Skype offices in Stockholm.

Do visit both dezeen.com and psarkitektur.com for more photos of the chairs used!

Top Chair or Chair Gear?

Brilliant! I didn’t check out Boing Boing for quite some time, but they really “do” Chairs and in an extraordinary way. Video reviews modeled after the famous British TopGear TV series. This one is about two Herman Miller Office Chairs.

Knoll Generation Chair

Knoll Generation Chair

According to Knoll, it is a task chair meant for “collaborations” and fluid work environments. However, if you sit in your desk typing all day, I hardly think this chair will do you any good. Why? The philosophy behind the chair is that we actually spend more time moving in our chair than sitting in it – this should be true, we should be moving!

Via Sit Better