I never understood the hype around ergonomic chairs. Yes, I know. These are the doodles of fools. You see, I always use these broken chairs in any office where I work and at home I sit on the couch with my laptop or I use a normal chair at my desk – this kind of chair will be visible on the dining table. Not suitable for old spikes.
During the first quarantine of 2020, I upgraded! I mean, I found an old red office chair on the side of the road. I used it on my desk at home until last week when my life changed forever. Look, I finally got my sight, I finally got a good chair. Ergonomic and comfortable for your back, you feel like you’re on a cloud.
It got me thinking, when I sit in such bliss that only someone who sits in a really good chair can know – where did it all start? When someone thinks, dude, I need to add wheels to the chair, right now.
Our story begins in the early 1840s, when the resourceful Charles Darwin created the Wooden Chair on Wheels. You see, Darwin needed a way to easily move around his desk to access the various samples scattered throughout the office, so he installed some wheels on a chair, and voila, the forerunner of the modern office chair was born.
The brains of humans that match this expand our understanding of evolution. Onia Charles.
The introduction of large-scale rail transport in the mid-19th century brought prosperity to the business. They began to expand, so they needed more workers – many of the same workers who spent a lot of time sitting and doing various paperwork.
Recognizing the new need for a better chair better suited to these new working conditions, American inventor Thomas E. Warren developed the “Central Spring Chair”. He even implemented a swivel mechanism that allows workers to get things without getting up. It’s really convenient.
By the early 1900s, “office workers” had become key members of society. Designer Frank Lloyd Wright realized that typists experienced all sorts of pains associated with poor posture, so he himself took some steps to address the problem. The result was the “Larkin Architectural Chair”, intended to accompany Larkin’s architecture, which he also designed. Such a busy guy.
While this chair is a step in the right direction when it comes to improving posture and comfort for office workers, it has the rather unfortunate nickname of the “Suicide Chair” due to its narrow wheelbase and easy rollover access. Although the nickname is quite attractive, the question remains a problem. However, while Wright’s design isn’t perfect, it does play a role in bringing us closer to the modern office chair.
In 1976, the first “modern” office swivel chair was born, which would look right at home in today’s office, albeit with a retro touch. The revolutionary design came about thanks to the idea of ​​Bill Stumpf, designer of the American furniture company Herman Miller. He calls his work the “Ergon” chair, based on the new science of ergonomics.
Stumpf has long been fascinated by the chairs used by office workers at the time. In 1966, while doing research at the University of Wisconsin, a full decade before his revolutionary project, he wrote an article titled “A chair is a chair is a problem.”
In the article, Stumpf states that “many of us spend up to 8 hours a day in uncomfortable chairs that restrict our movements and reduce our productivity.” So right Stumpf, so right.
Imagine the look on Mr. Darwin’s face if he could catch a glimpse of a modern office chair. It was a lot of fun to turn the first office chair (essentially a hard chair on wheels) into the ultra-light and comfortable office chair we have today.
Sure, the first chair revolutionized office chair mobility, but imagine the back pain that comes with long hours of work. Chairs have become more adjustable over time to fit all the beautiful shapes we humans get into, but it’s really just a lever to adjust the height, as in ergonomic chairs as it is today.
This is pretty much the level of customization I’m used to – moving my office chair up and down – which pretty much applies to most chairs I’ve used in my life. So when I first sat in my ErgoTune chair, I felt Neil Armstrong taking his first steps on a big cheese in the sky. Well, a little dramatic, but it shows how far we’ve come.
Today, we are lucky to have the features that make a world class office chair truly world class. Features like the ability to adjust the height of the backrest, ensuring that the lumbar support fits your C-curve exactly (regardless of your height), adjustable headrest and seat depth, perfectly breathable mesh material and more really make life easier than ever before. -or. Both options are better suited for office work. workers and gamers.
Heck, some of these companies even have armrest settings that adapt so perfectly to smartphone gaming that you’ll find yourself taking on Genshin Impact microtransaction debt faster than you can say “microtransactions killed modern gaming.”
We have indeed come a long way and companies like ErgoTune are leading the way by constantly innovating for unrivaled comfort and style. Don’t even make me start lumbar support. Honestly, the collective lumbar spine of mankind has never been more supported.
ErgoTune’s latest design, the ErgoTune Supreme V3, is an office worker’s dream offering customization options to suit every body type to keep you comfortable, supported and comfortable. This means that this chair will suit you whether you are very small or very large, and not vice versa, which historically (and even today) most chairs require.
It’s not just the pinnacle of modern office chairs, it’s a symbol of human ingenuity, of the human desire to sit, to sit well, to be a hell of a physical performer. Now imagine the wonders of the future. Heck, maybe they’ll have chairs to talk to you, sing you cute songs, and maybe even invite you to a party! Now, wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace?
David Allegretti is a Pedestrian Group Local Content Editor working for PEDESTRIAN.TV, VICE Australia, Refinery29 Australia, Business Insider Australia, Gizmodo Australia, Lifehacker Australia and Kotaku Australia. He loves creating fun, informative (and sometimes weird) content, regularly going on first-person adventures in the name of quality journalism, David has been published in The Guardian, The Age & Sydney Morning Herald, VICE, The Japan Times, Junkee, MTV, Beat Magazine, Jetstar Magazine, Concrete Playground, The Brag, and many more. He loves creating fun, informative (and sometimes weird) content, regularly going on first-person adventures in the name of quality journalism, David has been published in The Guardian, The Age & Sydney Morning Herald, VICE, The Japan Times, Junkee, MTV, Beat Magazine, Jetstar Magazine, Concrete Playground, The Brag, and many more. He loves to create fun, informative (and sometimes bizarre) content, regularly going on first-person adventures in the name of quality journalism. David has published in The Guardian, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, VICE, The Japan Times, Junkee, MTV, Beat Magazine, Jetstar Magazine, Concrete Playground, The Brag and many more. He enjoys creating interesting, informative (and sometimes quirky) content, often in first-person adventures in the name of quality journalism. David has written for The Guardian, The Times and Sydney Morning Herald, VICE, The Japan Times, Junkee, MTV, Beat Magazine, Jetstar Magazine, Concrete Playground, The Brag and more. You can see him on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter. Or you can contact by email.