Aeron Chair

The Aeron chair is a product by Herman Miller and designed in 1994 by Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf. It's an ergonomic chair, which is expensive but regarded by many as very comfortable. The chair became a symbol of the rise and fall of the dot-com industry in the late 1990s. However, its breakthrough design has gained it a spot in the New York Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection.

The chair is not upholstered. Instead, the seat and back are made of a semi-transparent and flexible mesh called a pellicle. Another noteworthy feature is that the Aeron is manufactured in three different sizes, A, B and C for Small, Medium and Large respectively.

The initial struggle to find a market for the chair is discussed in Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink.

Aeron Ergonomic Chair  

By combining distinctive looks with ergonomics, Aeron is like no other chair. It adapts naturally and adjusts precisely to fit people of all sizes and postures doing all kinds of activities. The design of the work chair, work stool, and side chair gives superior comfort, body support, and style that are widely copied but never matched. 
 

Aeron Chair - An Ergonomic Work Chair Solution

High-performance, long-term seating in three sizes with a full complement of adjustments and innovative suspension; for computer work, general office work, and casual or formal meetings.

Aeron Chair For Ergonomic Support Features

Posture. This next-generation breakthrough provides natural, custom-fitted lower-back support below the beltline for healthier posture and outstanding lower-back comfort.

High back. The three chair sizes have a high and wide contoured back that takes weight off the lower spine.

It's easy on the arms. Wide, soft armrests are sloped in the front.

Waterfall front edge. Reduces pressure under the thighs so circulation isn't restricted.

Comfortable Suspension.ealthful support. The strong Pellicle suspension system distributes weight evenly over the seat and back.

Form-fitting. The Pellicle conforms to each person's shape and minimizes pressure.

Aeration. Since air can pass through the Pellicle, the sitter stays cool and comfortable.

Natural Tilt. Smooth ride. The Kinemat tilt lets people move naturally and effortlessly, from forward-leaning through reclining.

In sync. The backrest and seat pan move in proper relation for correct support in all positions.

Responsive. Whether the user is in motion or at rest, the chair spontaneously supports the preferred posture.

Distinctive Aesthetics. Inclusive look. Blends both classic and contemporary influences for a unique appearance that fits in wherever it's used.

Pellicle choices. Three unique Pellicle weaves in a choice of neutral colors coordinate with lighter-scaled contemporary environments.

Innovative Work Stool. Work chair ergonomics. With its Pellicle suspension, Kinemat tilt, and PostureFit option, the work stool matches the work chair's performance; the stool is available in two heights.

Foot support. The height-adjustable Fine-Tune footring moves up and down with the seat pan; once properly adjusted, it's always at the right position.

Visual compatibility. The work stool offers the same finish and Pellicle choices as the work chair.

Aeron Chair Design Story

Herman Miller turned to designers Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf to design a totally new kind of chair. Chadwick's and Stumpf's previous collaboration had produced the groundbreaking Equa chair.

The two designers began this development process with a clean slate, with no assumptions about form or material, but with some strong convictions about what a chair ought to do for a person. That's how the idea for the Aeron Chair started.

Ergonomically the chair should actively intercede for the health of the person who sits in it longer than he or she should.

Functionally, it ought to move and adjust simply and naturally. It should support a person in any position, at any task his office job serves up.

Anthropometrically, it ought to be more inclusive than its predecessors. It should do more than accommodate small or large people. It should fit them.

Environmentally it should be sparing of natural resources, durable and repairable, designed for disassembly and recycling.

The design that fulfilled these criteria met all expectations and shattered some of them. It wasn't upholstered. It wasn't padded. It was dimensioned in three models that looked exactly alike and that had nothing to do with their users' job titles. It didn't look like any other office chair. And its revolutionary concept incorporated more patentable ideas than any previous Herman Miller research program.

"It was a matter of deliberate design to create a 'new signature shape' for the Aeron chair," says designer Bill Stumpf. "Competitive ergonomic chairs became look-alikes. Differentiation was a huge part of the Aeron design strategy, and it remains one of, if not the most, critical aspects of Aeron's success.

"The human form has no straight lines, it is biomorphic. We designed the chair to be above all biomorphic, or curvilinear, as a metaphor of human form in the visual as well as the tactile sense. There is not one straight line to be found on an Aeron chair.

"The Pellicle was equally a deliberate design strategy in that its transparency symbolizes the free flow of air to the skin in the same way lace, window screens, and other permeable membranes permit the flow of air or light or moisture. The transparency of the chair as a visual element was in keeping with the idea of transparent architecture and technology, which Aeron pioneered in advance of Apple's transparent iMac computers. Transparency is a major design movement. Its purpose is to make technology less opaque, to communicate the inner workings of things, and to make objects less intrusive in the environment. Aeron is a non-intrusive chair."

The Aeron design was refined and validated through research and experts' opinions:

The Aeron chair is made mostly of recycled materials, the Aeron chair is designed to last a long time, with parts that get the most wear easily replaced and recycled.