^[1]

Herman Miller ^[2] has one upped its own much-loved Aeron ^[3] with the Embody ^[4], its most fully considered chair yet. Along with being 95% recyclable, the chair integrates several health and comfort promoting features (like a 52-piece lumbar support system) that change the way we think about cubicle furniture.

We talked to Jeff Weber, the lead designer for Embody, about the inspiration behind the future-forward chair.

^[5]Having a design icon in the product line like the Aeron chair, what motivated the addition of another new chair? New production methods? Different price point? Better functionality?

We were asked by Don Goeman (Exec. VP of D&D for Herman Miller International) to “grow a chair”, and we thought about that for 10 minutes and realized we needed to begin the process by focusing on the human at work and not a chair. That initiated what became a 24 month research effort which culminated with the generation of a series of hypothesis. The most important: Can we design a chair that promotes health, that is health positive? The response to that hypothesis by the ergonomic and medical community was an overriding “yes.” We then began to discover how we might do that through the physical manifestation of hundreds of prototypes, until we had the necessary ingredients and a formula that achieved the goal.

There are several new production methods in relationship to the seat and back constructs, and many traditional methods as well. The theory and physical execution of the chair involves significant intellectual property.

Because the chair achieves a new bench mark for performance (comfort, health positive qualities) the chair consumes specific materials, the price of the chair is then based on the cost and assembly of these materials. So as a reference, the chair costs more then Aeron, but the values are equal, you get what you pay for.

Did a difference in the way people are working now contribute to the design of the chair?

The Aeron chair predicted the use of the computer as a primary work tool. In 1994 (when the Aeron chair was introduced to the world) we did use computers primarily for desktop publishing. [Then] email and web-surfing would come later – and that contributed to the success of the Aeron chair.

Since then we have become even more reliant on computers, forcing the majority of the population to become sedentary. Computers now not only support our work processes, they support a greater array of activities: socialization, artistic endeavors, entertainment, etc. So we now spend a significant number of hours a day sitting abdicated to our computers, good or bad, productive or destructive.

We have learned that the interface between people and machine (sedentary work) is inherently corrosive, producing cumulative health problems such as eyestrain, fatigue, repetitive stress injuries, chronic low back disorders, constriction of blood flow and breathing, and neck and shoulder strain.

Yes, the way in which people work today was the primary emphasis of this design.

^[6]

How does having a comfortable chair affect a person’s work-life? How much impact does it have?

We set out to develop the most humanistic chair we could given the constraints we were dealt, such as time, money, gravity and the material world. We describe comfort as the absence of awareness.. We attempted to design a chair that is an integral tool supportive of your work process – but is an absent participant. [This] allows you as a worker to function (physically and mentally) at an optimal level. Like an athlete with comfortable/high performing footwear: that footwear cannot impair the process of a performance. The chair is an equally critical factor; it is a difference maker.

The back of the Embody chair is really where it shows off its character. What’s the inspiration behind it?

The chair back: It is an attempt to produce a support element that is the analog of the human spine. Flexible, lively, resilient, stable, intelligent. Spinal health is the determinate factor for over all health.

The Embody chair is designed to be 95 percent recyclable, and has 42 percent recycled content in it. Were there any components that had to be specially considered or designed in a new way to meet these targets?

The HMI development process is an inclusive one. HMI has a Design For the Environment team of people that constantly consults with the project development team to insure the environmental protocol is achieved from the beginning.

How easy is it for someone to disassemble the chair for recycling? Was this considered in the design process?

The chair is very easy to assemble and disassemble, fasteners are visually available. But most importantly the chair has been designed to last, to provide service for a minimum of 12 years and in service for decades. Length of usable life coupled with materiality determine the true global footprint of an object.

Thanks, Jeff!

Herman Miller Embody ^[4]