With the number of hours we spend sitting on chairs, we really should spend more time selecting the right one for ourselves. Whether it’s carrying out our office work, or simply eating a meal, we need a well-designed chair for all our tasks. And if they’re any slouchy heads like me here, you always find yourself slinking off into some goofy position! As comfy as these eccentric positions may be, they’re dreadful for our vertebrae! They can have severe long-term effects on our back, and hence maintaining a straight and proper posture is critical. And this collection of ergonomically designed chairs will help you do exactly that! Maintaining a healthy posture will be a child’s play with any of these chair designs. We hope you find the ideal one for yourself!
The Soul Seat helps you sit in a neutral posture that is effortless and comfortable. The springs on the elevated perch tilt the pelvis forward, open the hips and help align the spine. You can sit in several positions if crossing legs isn’t comfortable for you, the chair enables you to switch between multiple positions frequently keeping your body engaged and blood flowing. For some, this may also alleviate neck and back pain! The height of both levels can be adjusted to suit your workspace setup. I know there were many comments from our Instagram audience about it missing a backrest and while I don’t think it causes harm if you sit without one (people meditate and work in this very posture for hours in Asian countries), I do think having an option of a detachable backrest can help those who are just starting to work on their posture ease into it. It is about having that choice which opens up many more people to use the Soul Seat, however, there are countless reviews that mention it being comfortable as it is so it is a great design but it does come down to personal preference.
With its apt name, the Komfort Chair aims at making that WFH situation is at least more comfortable. Like any good office chair, it comes with height adjustment as well as armrest and backrest adjustment… but it’s arguably the only chair that gives you the ability to even adjust seat-tilt as well as seat-depth, allowing you to sit in any configuration that’s best for your posture in relation to your furniture and workstation. The Komfort Chair even has knee rests that swivel out, allowing you to turn it into a standing chair for better blood circulation and overall posture improvement. The Komfort is a shape-shifting ergonomic chair that supports a whole variety of configurations and styles. Designed to make you sit better for longer, its adjustable details allow you to maintain a comfortable posture no matter what your work setup is.
I’ll be honest, before I even got to the design it was the name of the product that caught my eye – Pluching! Pluching is a mashup of the words pluck + stretching and it was the quickest, most genius way to describe the functionality of this personal device! Our modern lifestyle involves us being stationary in one position for long hours which is unhealthy and Pluching was created as an organic solution that brings more movement! The time spent sitting in one place has increased so much ever since the pandemic began because all we do is work from home and then watch Netflix at home. This can cause turtle neck syndrome, shoulder pain, back pain, and unhealthy stiffness which you can minimize using stretching equipment like Pluching. The idea was to design exercise equipment that gives the effect of band exercise and stretching but could clip-on on the back of your chair for ease. Pluching uses a powerful neodymium magnet that is embedded in a silicon clip to secure the equipment and give you stability.
According to Gustavo, his furniture design named Mode, “brings joy and comfort within a furniture for those who work alone.” The minimalistic furniture design comprises a table, seat, and kneeling module – all working in different ways as per the requirement. It has a compact mode which turns it into an elegant side table – ideal beside the bed or sofa. Then there is the customary table and chair module for professional working hours. The most interesting is the kneeling mode that brings the function of a rocking chair for more comfortable working. This mode is triggered by pressing the lower button and pulling the extendable base support for back and forth motion.
The Katana chair by Pavel Vetrov has been inspired by the Japanese katana sword and I think we can say this chair is mightier than the sword – given that the war right now is being fought by sitting at home! Japanese culture and philosophy can be seen in the details of the Katana chair. The stitching details on the edges represent the handle of the sword while the colors are carefully chosen to represent the mood. The chair is ergonomically designed so that your back is well supported and there is no pain when you bow to greet people when you are back to socializing.
Sourcing a type of non-existence as his main inspiration, Luu designed Sado as an experiment in unconventional design and the result proves the singularity that can be achieved without blueprints guiding the way. Before designing Sado, Luu wondered, “What if the chair as we knew it never existed?” Eliminating all preconceptions regarding chair designs and all their variations, Luu began at ground zero. Speaking to this, Luu says, “As the archetype of the chair had been left unchanged for the past 6,500 years, an exploration was made to find a unique sitting form.” Settling on both a comfortable and distinct sitting form required a complete restructuring of the traditional upright chair and backrest.
Regular chairs have backrests and armrests, the Petal Chair, well, has petalesque forms that double as backrests and arm-supports. Meet the European Product Design Award-winning chair that looks to flowers for furniture inspiration. The chair comes with three gently curved petals, almost resembling an exotic orchid. The chair’s diagonally slanted armrests are wonderful for relaxing your weary limbs as well as sitting in the yogic lotus posture, with your legs folded inwards. To reinforce the chair’s sense of comfort, it comes with pillows for cushioning, suspended using extendable straps that you can height-adjust for that comfortable sweet spot. “The Petal armchair is designed to change the position of the body and improve blood circulation. It gives the ability to take a break and restore your mental balance”, says the St. Petersburg-based design studio, Alter Ego.
Designed using generative algorithms, the Generico Chair by Marco Hemmerling and Ulrich Nether fall under the domain of computational or parametric design, i.e., the use of computational algorithms in the design process. The generative design process allows the software to add its expertise by achieving a design that fulfills certain parameters. In this case, the chair retains its strength and also comes with a flexible backrest, but with a volume that’s drastically cut down, and that uses less material, thanks to its voronoi-esque design. The Generico Chair not only cuts down on volume but also maintains a certain level of ergonomic design so the chair is comfortable to sit on. The chair is then 3D printed, given that the generative design comes with its share of manufacturing constraints.
The OM chair is inspired by the Orchid Mantis. Using bionics as its base, the designers have crafted a chair where the plastic form of the seat resembles an orchid petal. The steel base is like the mantis itself. Supporting 360-degree rotation, the chair allows your legs to take a comfortable position, should you choose to sit in ‘sukh asana’ and meditate or chant OM.
The Pad Chair transforms from a benign wooden mat into a neat chair with a backrest! Made from multiple wooden strips joined together in a rather unique way, the Pad Chair possesses the ability to transform from a flat, 2D shape into a neat, comfortable 3D chair. I’m sure there’s a locking system in place that allows the chair to lock in either closed or open positions, but for now, the Pad Chair provides a radical alternative to those ugly metal foldable chairs (the kind you’d see in wrestling matches). What the Pad Chair offers as an alternative looks incredibly classy, in both its closed as well as open versions!
