“If I asked you to name a few common technology products, office chairs probably wouldn’t make the list. The act of sitting down is such a fundamental human activity that chairs are often overlooked entirely, and rarely thought of as technology,” Michael Steeber reports for 9to5Mac. “Yet, sitting has quietly become an art in itself.”
“The engineering behind a chair can make or break your productivity and its design can compliment or ruin the appearance of room,” Steeber reports. “Multiply that factor by 12,000 – the number of employees expected to occupy the new Apple Park campus in Cupertino – and suddenly choosing the right chair becomes vital.”
“With that in mind, upon hearing that Apple – with guidance by Jony Ive – had picked Vitra’s Pacific Chair as the seat of choice for one of the most creative workforces on earth, I knew I had to try one out myself,” Steeber reports. “The model of Pacific I bought is nearly identical to the configuration Apple chose, save for the material choice: low backrest with fixed, aluminum arms, polished 5-star aluminum base and frame, covered in a light grey ice blue plano fabric. Bloomberg described Apple’s material choice as a ‘deep-sea blue,’ but the closest match I can find on Vitra’s website is a nero ice blue… Next time, I would probably choose the medium backrest for more support.”
Much more in the full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: The chair is overrated and its defining visual feature, the aluminum armrests, are a classic example of form over function as they’re often cold, hard, and uncomfortable. We’ll stick with our far more adjustable and comfortable Herman Miller Classic Aeron chairs, thanks.
SEE ALSO:
Apple is leading a revolution in office chairs – December 7, 2017
I’ll bet Ive doesn’t sit in this chair, and if he does he’ll be replacing it soon. Agreed about the cold and seemingly very short armrests.
I had a different office chair which also had polished metal arms and I really loved the arms. They were always comfortable and never got sweaty in warm weather. In our British winters, they were always at a sensible room temperature, just as everything else is in a centrally heated room.
I’ve used different office chairs with fabric upholstered, leather, plastic and also metal arms and I would choose the metal ones any day, but having said that, there’s no way that I would spend that much money for the Vitra chair.
Herman Miller Embody
Agreed. I’ve owned an Herman Miller Embody chair for several years – by far the best chair I have ever used. My poor back says thank-you daily. It came with something like an 11-year warranty as well. I had to use it once – excellent service.
Agree with MDN. Sitting in an Aeron I purchased myself in my home office… FUNCTION over form in this case. Sooo comfy.
*sigh* Further suffering of Apple employees for the sake of ‘ART’ at the Mothership.
My prime point, for those who sit and work with a computer at their desk: Beware the arm rests! They can be arm ergonomics killers. I never buy a desk chair without removable, movable/flip-down or nonexistent arm rests. Please read up on desk chair ergonomics and verify my point. I wish Jony Ive would! *sigh*
Homework:
Click to access HFESchair.pdf
http://www.taylordergo.com/armrests-can-help-or-hinder-find-out-why/
On this topic, how important is it to have those adjustable shelves you see ergonomists advocate that the keyboard sits on?
Keep in mind that the desks at Apple Park are height adjustable, so that you can “stand” at your desk. Maybe they chose these chairs to “encourage” people to stand more often.
those chairs look horrible. my old company (fortune 100) spent a s**tload of money on herman millers for the entire IT department. best office chair i ever sat in.
Who gives a damn what they said and ridiculous article. Jony needs to get back to work
Indeed
when I saw the price of both chairs mentioned. Such are the challenges in the 1st world.