Gizmodo: aeron

Famed Office Chair Shrinks Into Premium Snowboard Binding

Mark Wilson — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:10:00 EDT

The Aeron chair was the most famous office seat of all time, but we never expected it to show up in a Burton CO2 snowboard binding. Craziness? No, just look at the picture.

The binding borrows the chair's breathable webbing and strong Y support core, creating a lightweight and flexible structure that will run interested snowboarders $390. It's incredibly interesting to see the unique design principles of one product make their way into another product, even if it's obvious (in retrospect) that such ideas would easily scale for universal application.

But everyone be nice to Burton and be sure not to mention that the Aeron's successor was already announced...and it uses a completely new "H" back support. I guess that's what Burton's 2010 line is for. [Fast Company via Core77]

The Herman Miller Embody Chair, or Aeron Part II

Mark Wilson — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:40:00 EDT

Can Man place a pricetag on the comfort of his rump? Yes. Yes he can. And the Embody chair—the sequel to the iconic, $1.5 billion grossing Aeron chair by Herman Miller—is probably way, way too good for your posterior at its $1,600 asking price. But that doesn't mean you can't gawk for a while.

Built from non-toxic and ecologically sustainable materials, the Embody is 96% recyclable. Though its mass appeal, of course, will be comfort. Packing seven different knobs and levers for every kind of adjustment you could desire, the seat is comprised of four layers—the bottom is a series of plastic bands providing suspension, the second is a sheet of coils for support, the third is a system hexagonal rings that shift with your weight and the final layer is a mesh that allows air circulation to keep the sitter cool.

The chair makes wild claims, like lowering a user's heart rate and helping oxygenate the blood stream. We can't affirm or deny such points, but we're pretty sure that the Embody is the snazziest looking office chair we've ever seen. And that's good enough for our butts. [Fortune via DVICE]

Aeron-Killing Office Chair Auto Calibrates to Your Butt, Back, and Neck

Brian Lam — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:07:05 EST

I've no way of knowing if this office chair is more comfortable than the famous Aeron chair. Or if its self-calibrating back and seat are any more "body-aware" than a bean bag chair. But the fact that the spinal support looks like a leather bound set of tank treads, is pretty freaking cool.

Peter Hall, on Pop Science's website, writes about this seat's ability to overcome the human tendency towards laziness. See, In theory, the Aeron could be equally ergonomic - if only people adjusted the chair's settings every time they shifted. This chair, which I believe to be a concept, has panels that auto adjust to your every shift like a scale sinking to your weight.

The bar has been raised. And won't be topped until someone makes a chair version of a waterbed with magic fingers. Geek inventors, the world is waiting with eagerness.–Brian Lam

Photo Credit: Nick Kaloterakis

THE FUTURE OF WORK [Pop Science]