We live in strange times. Those of us who are not self-isolating face a weekly shop that is like a scene from a zombie apocalypse movie. Hand sanitiser, pasta, and toilet roll are now more precious than gold. All sport is cancelled. Coronavirus has come to dominate our lives and the UK government is now urging workers to avoid the office and work from home where possible. At some point soon this could well become a full lockdown. Fair enough, we might enjoy some home comforts during our working day. And yet, often the home is not that comfortable, at least when it comes to home working. So if you are working from home, hunched over a laptop on the sofa, or your backside is going numb on a rock hard kitchen chair, check out our 5 chairs to upgrade your homeworking experience to something more comfortable.
Herman Miller Lino
Lino is the new task chair from Herman Miller. Leaning on more than 50 years of Herman Miller’s industry-leading research and design, Lino holds the same DNA as the rest of their performance work chairs, offering each person balanced movement and dynamic fit. Lino brings scientifically backed comfort and a wide range of aesthetic options to your home. Lino’s contoured seat works together with its high-performance Duo Suspension to give you total spinal support, and the breathable suspension features integrated lumbar support thanks to a composite of different thread tensions.
You can customise your Lino Chair by choosing between a Black or Mineral frame, six different suspension colours and a large variety of upholstery options. For the base, choose a colour that matches the frame or, for a sleeker look, turn to polished aluminium. For even more comfort go for the PostureFit back option that supports the sacral and lumbar regions.
Humanscale World
Diffrient World is Humanscale’s first foray into all-mesh task seating. Designer Niels Diffrient wanted to create the most minimal, full-function task chair ever made. With an innovative tri-panel mesh backrest that provides custom back and lumbar support and a lightweight design, Diffrient World is simple, beautiful and functional. The design eliminates the need for traditional mechanisms, instead using the laws of physics and the sitter’s body weight to offer perfect recline for each individual sitter with armrests that are attached to the back of the chair so they move with the user. Diffrient World offers the ultimate user-friendly sitting experience. A high quality, affordable task chair with minimal parts, Diffrient World was built with longevity in mind and will look as good in ten years as it does today
Orangebox DO
DO is the result of taking a completely fresh look at task chair design, DO does more with less. DO is innovative in terms of the materials used, the way it’s assembled and transported, and the powerful performance it delivers. People come in all shapes and sizes and with shared workspaces becoming increasingly common there’s a growing need for simple, adaptable seating.
Thanks to user-centred design and a weight balancing mechanism, DO doesn’t have multitude of knobs and levers to find and struggle with. In fact, DO increases the range of adjustment on offer, while at the same time simplifying how it’s delivered, making DO easier to set up and intuitive to use.
Both the technical and upholstered mesh textiles adapt to each user’s body shape to always provide great back support. The single skin mesh allows better temperature control and breathe-ability than a traditional upholstered back. Lumbar support is included as standard. The weight balancing mechanism automatically adapts to any size of user, taking away the need for the usual tension adjustment & complicated chair ‘set-up’. The optional travel limiter allows back recline to three different angles but ensures that the back can only ever be locked in the upright position.
Vitra ID Trim
ID Trim is part of Antonio Citterio’s ID Chair Concept family of chairs. The ID Chair Concept is based around the FlowMotion mechanism that supports the sitter across the full range of movement. Nearly all functions can be adjusted while sitting in the chair, and just a few quick turns of an adjustment screw enable precision tuning from minimum to maximum resistance. Even if the settings are not optimally adjusted on occasion, the chair still retains its ergonomic properties.
With its compact padding, the backrest of the ID Trim office chair conveys a sense of classic elegance and quality craftsmanship. ID Chairs in warm earthy hues have a particularly understated character, perfect for a home office. The sandwich construction with integrated lumbar support provides the comfort of an upholstered backrest while being almost as slim as a mesh backrest. The interplay of the polyamide frame with the multi-chamber padding gives the backrest its three-dimensional range of movement. It adapts to the contours of the sitter’s body and distributes varying degrees of flexibility and support to the correct zones.
Integrated cushioning in the lumbar region, flexibility in the thoracic, and support to the shoulders provide support and relieves strain and tension where appropriate.
Herman Miller Aeron
It’s incredible to think that Aeron has been around in various guises for a quarter of a century now. It’s testament to its timeless design and world-class ergonomics that its still relevant, and still going strong.
While its iconic form has remained largely unchanged, the Aeron chair has been remastered from the castors up to meet the needs of today’s work. With the help of original co-designer Don Chadwick, Herman Miller have thoughtfully updated the chair based on the latest research around the science of sitting, and advancements in materials, manufacturing and technology. By doing away with foam and fabric, the original Aeron solved one of the problems of prolonged sitting: the build-up of heat and humidity close to the body. While many chairs have adopted mesh as a way to deliver some of this performance, there’s only one Pellicle and it’s now upgraded to provide multi-zonal support for increased comfort and ergonomic support.
Updates include a more refined tilt mechanism that delivers an even more seamless experience of movement to the sitter through a smoother trajectory and optimal balance point and PostureFit SL, an adjustable back support with individual pads that stabilise the sacrum and support the lumbar region of the spine to mimic a healthy standing position.