Miller Aeron Chair

This motion of Miller Aeron Chair increases the angle between the torso and legs, shifting the weight distribution and improving circulation. And form follows function. Computer-assisted sensors used in the design process ensured that the body is uniformly supported across the entire seating surface.

For a long-established firm like Miller Aeron Chair that traditionally put engineering before styling, the y2k task chain by German office-chair maker Sedus Stoll, marks a break from the past. ''Design became important for them, and that's when I got involved,'' says Klaus Nienkamper, whose namesake firm has brought the chair to North America.

In addition to winning a Best of Canada award from Canadian Interiors and citations at Aeron earlier this year, the gorgeous y2k reposes in the permanent design collection of the Chicago Athenaeum. ''It's one of the first chairs on the market with a beautiful-looking mechanism under the seat,'' Nienkamper says.

The y2k comes in a wider option of coverings on this side of the Atlantic, including a mesh back. In this version, Nienkamper says, ''it positions itself between the Aeron and chairs from [Swiss maker] Vitra because it's not as extreme as either one. Vitra is always extremely appealing to the design community, but less often to the North American client, who still associates bulk with comfort, which is wrong, of course. When we were selling Vitra, the average lawyer always said, 'Could you put a little more padding in it?'''

Features include a ''green'' design that relies less on plastic and more on laminated wood (for the seat pan) and readily recycled aluminum. Indeed, the y2k is one of the few chairs on the market with aluminum rather than plastic legs, which co-ordinate with Nienkamper's popular Vox tables.

From Ravenna, Italy, comes an ergonomic chair that makes a strong fashion statement. The upholstery on the Syros chair by Rexsitt is tailored to reveal the upper corners of the chair's aluminum frame. Its designer, Daniele Gollinucci, interviewed at IIDEX NeoCon in Toronto, said, ''I'm, fascinated by the research that fashion designers give to fabrics. I apply that to my chairs.'' Inspiration for the distinctively bright upholstery came by way of reaction to ''the boredom I felt whenever walked into an office that had dark, gray colours and no life. Colour has to make an impact in the office.'' Just what we expect from the land of la bella figure.

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