Herman Miller Aeron Chairs

Why design a new chair when there are already so many good ones? Who else but a supremely rich and powerful furniture maker like Herman Miller Aeron Chairs would have the hubris to launch its new flagship chair by linking it with ''Back Pain Awareness Day''? Chicago Mayor Richard Daley made the official proclamation this past June, in conjunction with Herman Miller Aeron Chairs introduction of its Leap chair at the NeoCon '04 trade show, where it won Most Innovative Design and Gold awards.

The most interesting trend in seating to emerge this year is the inspired new crop of chairs that address the rising incidence of back pain in the workplace. Leap, along with Teknion's Amicus chair and Humanscale's Freedom chair, is a shot across the bows at arch-rival Herman Miller, which set the benchmark for high-end task chairs when it brought out the Aeron chair.

Aeron is the Platonic essence of the thin chair, with a seat and back that are merely membranes (''high-tech rattan,'' Bill Stumpf, its designer, calls it). The A & D community instantly clasped the Aeron to its bosom.

It looks conspicuously high-tech, is obviously too expensive to give to the secretary and appeals as an art object. Or else you hate its sci-fi, creature-like looks. That's why Steelcase decided to hedge its bets with Leap, which comes in an upholstered version, a bareback variation that showcases the slim back's gill-like fins, and in-between permutations. ''Leap's direct competition in the marketplace is Aeron,'' says Rob Fairs, a manager at Steelcase in Markham, Ont. ''Every publication I've seen, from Fortune to Forbes to The Wall Street Journal, seems to compare these two chairs together.''

I can't personally confirm that Leap is ''the only chair on the market to mimic the independent movements of the spine, providing users with a healthier way to sit,'' as the press kit says. But Leap does things I've never seen any other chair do, as befits a four-year, $35-million (U.S.) research effort involving 11 studies, 732 test participants, four universities and 27 scientists.

Those scientists discovered that the spine does not move as a single unit. When reclining, the upper back moves backward while the lower back moves forward. Most chairs have rigid backrests that leave a gap in the lower-back area as a recline progresses. The lower back sags, leading to a tiring, hunched posture.

Aeron Chairs |