Making Flippy-Floppy

Hey, remember these guys?

Fashion and brilliance, what’s not to love?

The Talking Heads are one of the seminal bands of the 70s/80s, and David Byrne  was the mastermind behind their groundbreaking music.

Did you know he’s also designed chairs?

The Mohawk Chair

 

When asked simply, “Why chairs?”, this is what Mr. Byrne had to say:

Well, they have arms and legs and vaguely human scale — and shape. They’re people — they hold you, support you, elevate you or humble you. They’re funny or elegant, funky or gorgeous, social or aloof. They’re characters with lives and histories…aren’t they?

Pretty much every architect or artist working in a sculptural medium is confronted with the chair design question at some point in their lives.  It’s nice to see that Mr. Big Suit can join the party!

Back from the grave!

We’ve been busy little workers (and elves for the better part of December) over at Seating Zone and we can surface for air to wish you a very belated Happy New Year!

I’d like to take a moment and wax amorous about my Hon Ignition chair I’m currently sitting in.  I have the basic model without the syncro-tilt option but it’s absolutely fabulous.  I avoid task chairs and stick to my beloved Varier kneeling chair, but this small seat makes me feel cozy and secure without restricting my movement.  The mesh back is super supportive and breathable.  I can easily adjust my tilt tension with one knob, and the arms are totally adjustable to whatever position I need, up or down.

I recommend this chair for those of you smaller folks, around 5’1″ to 5’8″, who want a task chair that’s proportionate, functional and really comfortable.  It comes in loads of fabrics and even fully upholstered.  Take a look at our selection in the Ignition line.  You won’t be disappointed.

Stackability

Dornob‘s done it again, this time with a unique take on economic, stackable chairs.

Design? Meet function!

The Triplette Chair by French designer Paul Menand is a sight for sore eyes for yours truly.  I used to work in a liquor store with a tasting room, and for every event we had to set up tables and chairs for our customers.

Cue entry into the cobwebbed storeroom, filled with stacks of bent old nested chairs.  They were a nightmare to separate and even worse to stack again.  Even though they were upholstered, they weren’t very comfortable, and at 5’4″ I can tell you that lifting one of the metal monsters above your head to try and stack it so that it won’t fall on you while you’re negotiating the stack back into the closet isn’t fun.

Menand solved my problem and thousands others like it, not to mention the woes of entertaining in small loft spaces, with his Triplette.  Who doesn’t want three chairs in one?  The best part of this design is that the “storage container” can be used as a single chair when you’re not in need of extra seating.

More for your money

SitCorrect: Pregnancy Seating

I’ve linked to a new study posted by Varier earlier this week regarding the benefits of kneeling chairs for women during the latter stages of their pregnancies.  Check it out!

Ergo Expo 2011

It’s that time of year again!  The annual Ergo Expo takes place in Las Vegas from November 30th to December 2nd.

Ergonomic Mecca

Ergo Expo is the largest and most comprehensive ergonomic event in the nation.  Speakers and manufacturers from around the world come to share their ergo-friendly products and knowledge.  This year’s schedules include companies like JetBlue and Chevron  with implemented ergonomic strategies, as well as some of our favorite manufacturers (Humanscale, Varier, ESI, Neutral Posture and Office Master, to name a few!) with their superb product lines.

Events like this ensure that ergonomic products and workplace strategies get the support they need in order to deliver unparalleled support to us on a daily basis.  For those of us who can’t attend, Ergo Expo’s offering free webinars throughout the conference.  They’re certainly not to be missed!

Eurotech’s New Model

The folks over at Eurotech know their chairs.  The Ergohuman alone is our most popular model, coming in around several thousand sales per year.  Their new model introduces two wonderful features that promote simplicity and elegance of design.

Ergo-chic

Say goodbye to tons of buttons and levers - for 2012, Eurotech’s upped the ante in ergonomic seating with a brand new single lever mechanism that controls your seat height, seat slide position and back angle.

Do your elbows slide off your armrests?  Eurotech’s come up with a solution. You can now adjust your armrest position and angle as well as the height.

Total adjustment equals total comfort

Eurotech’s taken a clean, beautiful design and made it even more accomodating to their customer base.  And, at half the price of a Herman Miller, Eurotech’s providing their consumers with exceptional value.  Contact us to order yours today!

I’m going to have to put you on the grid, Kevin.

The folks over at Dornob never disappoint.  This time it’s with armchairs inspired by TRON: Legacy, designed by Dror Benshetrit.

I fight for the users!

Made from recyclable material, these chairs are certainly eye-catching, if not totally comfortable.  Each piece is designed with colors, angles and materials that call to mind the decades-old question: Are you a program, or are you a user?

How to (not) enjoy a new chair

Beloved British tv and film star Rowan Atkinson has a few ideas about seating.  He’s quite economical.

He’s also into ergonomic seating (1:22).

Do as he says, not as he does.

If your task chair starts doing what happens above, I’d suggest installing a new gas cylinder.  Unless you’re an international super-spy and man of mystery.  Then you can probably get an intern to do it for you.

Slouch-asaurus Rex

Our friends at Varier recently posted about the importance of posture – only this time, they’re not talking about in the office.

So, you have an ergonomic chair in the office.  You sit in it 8 hours a day.  You make sure to adjust your position periodically to support your spine.  You’re more alert throughout your day and by the time you leave, that early morning stiffness you came in with is gone.  What’s the first thing you do when you go home?

If you’re me, you throw something on the grill, flip on the TV and instantly slouch back onto your sofa.  This negates your daily efforts toward perfect posture, and it promotes long-term spinal damage:

 If your home seating fails to maintain the natural curve of your low back, indeed encourages you to sit in a sustained slouch, then the ligaments in your back are going to be stretched, just as they are if you sit badly in the office. As a result the small stretch receptors in the ligaments and deep muscles of your back will tire of their protective role and switch off, and you lose the reflex that automatically protects your spine. Your spinal stability is gone and your spine is now very vulnerable to injury. And all the time you are sitting slouched, fluid is emerging from the muscles, ligaments, discs and joints, irritating the spinal structures, and creating inflammation.

Put simply, habitual slouching = inflammation = injury.  Sitting well in the office does not cancel out the damage you do to your back at home.

We don’t usually think about ergonomic seating in the home.  It’s long been an important issue where we work, but at home our personal rule is the softer, the better. Varier doesn’t agree, and neither do we.  We’ve blogged about the Gravity Chair before, but now is the perfect time to reconsider your home seating arrangements.

You don’t have to sacrifice style with the Gravity Chair and, most importantly, your money goes to support the continued flexibility and health of your back.  At 25 and as a habitual sloucher, I’m already experiencing early-morning soreness and a loss of flexibility that has me worried.  The earlier you become aware of your posture and take steps to correct it, the healthier and easier your mobility will become as you get older.

Varier’s committed to bringing beautiful, healthy seating to you no matter where you are.  We at Seating Zone are proud to offer their phenomenal products in the US.

And just think – a kneeling chair at work and a Gravity Chair at home?  I’m all about matching, and this sounds like a dream come true.

Frameless, fabulous?

Core77′s design awards showcase a unique line of products designed with function and comfort in mind.  One of the big beauties this time around is the Herman Miller SAYL chair.  Its laid-back design delivers total support for the active office worker without sacrificing style. The SAYL offers injection-molded mesh that conforms to your body without bulky lumbar pillows.

But best of all, it’s unpretentious.  It’s aesthetically pleasing without too many frills and is one of the best examples of functional design I’ve seen in awhile.

From the onset, we understood that designing a chair (and no less fro Herman Miller) was an amazing design challenge. There is no place to hide in a chair; every part serves a structural or tactile purpose, while providing comfort, ergonomic support and beauty. We approved this challenge with the overall goal of attainability.

It’s also designed to be affordable for a wide market, which is a huge plus.  This isn’t your grandfather’s executive chair!