Sit Next To Me

Hello my fancy friends! Thank you so much for tuning in today. Are you sitting down? I’ve got some insider info for you. We spend about half our lives sitting down, and those of us with desk jobs end up sitting closer to 15 hours a day! With such a huge investment of time in one single piece of furniture, that is our office chairs, it’s natural to want to understand exactly what it is we are sitting on and why we would chose one seat over another.  

Plus, with so many of us working from home now, we actually have more control than even to decide exactly what we park our tush in, and that’s good news. So today, we are taking a look at the world of so-called task seating, completely dissecting the ever-present office chair, and we’re going to come to understand exactly how these little work horses can make or break our daily lives.

But first, let’s talk about the color of the week. If you’ve listened to the episode “Mama, I’m Coming Home,” you know I’m a fan of the reality TV show, The Bachelor, and this week marked the beginning of the new season of the Bachelorette. After four long months of the off-season, this competition is back in action and we are celebrating with the Color of the Week - Pantone 19-1664 True Red. Here’s were things get real. True, vibrant, primary red is one of the most widely misused colors in the interior design world. It’s often the default when someone wants to add a pop to their space, but the pungency of this color requires an intentional strategy to be well balanced. True Red is also one of the most charged colors in terms of interpretation among varying cultures, so know your audience when introducing this powerful shade. The key to working with true red is to bring in at least two other shades of red to help ground it. An oxblood, soft maroon, or even a shade of pink can help temper the impact of true red, and then you can layer on the rest of your color scheme on top of that. This takes away the traffic sign vibe that the color can bring to a space on its own, and elevates it to a more integrated experience. We can leave shock and awe to the world around us, but in our homes we have the opportunity to create peace, even if it’s a little dramatic.

This is a technical topic we are diving into together, and it’s one of those non-glamorous parts of interior designer. But I know, you can handle it, because A) you’re freaking smart and B) we’ve had a few really glam episodes lately - whether it’s the “Pretty Paper” episode all about wallpaper or the “Blinding Lights” episode that focuses on decorative lighting. Interior design is all about balancing the beautiful and the practical. Also, if you’re setting up or retooling your work-from-home station, make sure to check out the episode “Workin’ It - From Home.” That was the third ever episode of this podcast and I absolutely love talking about workplace and office life and how you can set yourself up to be balanced and comfortable in your working world.

Everyone’s body needs support in different ways, and the companies that design office chairs are specialists in understanding what we need to feel comfortable. It’s like designing an athletic shoe that we sit in. One of the very best tips I can give you when selecting an office chair is to sit in it before you buy it. Go to Staples or West Elm or wherever you love buying furniture and sit in the floor sample. Pretend to talk on the phone, act out using a computer, curl up in it. Get goofy with it, because you deserve to understand exactly how your chair will and won’t support you in day to day tasks. 

When I have big office clients, we have one meeting dedicated to sit testing all the chairs on the project. Sometimes we take the client to a furniture showroom, and other times we have sample chairs delivered to their office. Big projects can have twenty plus chair types through out the whole facility, and we’ll line one of each up for every decision maker to get a real feel, of not just how it feels to sit in the chair, but how easy it is to get in and out of each chair. I usually call this the chair parade because it’s just one long line of chairs.  There’s a scene in the movie the Knocked Up when one of the characters is in an altered state of mind and lines up every type of chair in their hotel room and is marveled by the fact that there are so many different types of chairs in the room. That’s how interior designers see the world all the time. 

Let's do a quick lexicon check in before we get started. The term task chair is used by interior designers to refer to any chair used for long periods sitting, typically these involve a five caster base (that the little wheels), that is shaped like an asterisk, adjustable arms, adjustable seat height, and some type of lumbar back support. While theoretically you can sit at an office desk all day on anything from a wooden bench to an upholstered wing back chair, the traditional task chair has been crafted and engineered for your long-term sedentary comfort.

There is a mystery that I want to solve around task chairs. That’s the high cost. Why are these types of chairs often over a thousand dollars? If you have ever looked at purchasing a task chair, especially a high-quality one, it might be a little bit more expensive than you imagined, as compared to say a wooden dining room chair. This is because task chairs are finely engineered, to not only conform to the size of your body, but to support it. The major manufacturers that interior designers work with professionally, actually rank their office chairs by hours, in terms of how long a body can sit in it. So for instance a chair that may only have 2 to 3 hours of sit-time, would be perfectly fine for a conference or meeting room, but it would leave you feeling uncomfortable if you sat in it for a full eight hours at your desk. This comes down to the amount of adjustability and lumbar support each chair has. There's ongoing research and development around how to improve the task chair, and I can confirm this because I see these big furniture companies continuing to challenge and push themselves all the time. Whether or not they are succeeding is debatable but, the point is, if you sit in a dining room chair all day, chances are your body will start to let you know it's unhappy. Sitting in the right chair, however ,will allow you to sit in comfort for longer.

The next thing I want discuss is where to find quality task chairs. You will see these at any furniture or office supply store, but if you really want to get into the companies that specialize in this type of chair, where that is their bread and butter - keep listening. If you are sitting in a chair at a friend’s house or an office you are visiting, you can ask where the chair is from, or if you are like me you will crawl on the floor and look underneath the seat where the make and model are usually printed on a sticker. So let’s do a run down of the major players, and keep in mind, this by no means covers everyone, there are some companies that I use all the time for work that I’m not going to go into because they aren’t really available to the general public. And I say that just emphasize, this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to chair manufactures. 

Let's start out with what most people consider to be the absolute gold standard, the Rolls Royce, the Le Mar of office chairs – the Herman Miller Aeron chair. Not to be confused with the trendy LA food heaven Erewhon, the Aeron chair is actually housed in the iconic furniture wing at the New York MoMa, and is by far and away one of the most requested pieces in the office design world. It actually comes in three different sizes for varying heights which is awesome. You can find out what size a chair is by reaching your hand under the frame on the back side of the chair, just below the top. You will be able to feel one, two, or three dots. This indicates a small, medium, or large chair. There is a 90% chance you will feel two dots for the medium chair, because everyone gets the medium, but it’s worth checking.

The look of this chair is definitely unique. Rather than relying on a clunky plastic apparatus for a lumbar support, the Aeron chair has been engineered to have a very strong tensile mesh stretched around a frame. This provides all of the lumbar support for the chair due to the angle at which the mesh is stretched. This allows it to be arguably more aesthetically pleasing than some traditional looking task chairs. I personally have never been able to get comfortable in this chair, and I've talked to other folks of a shorter stature who have had the same issue. Maybe it's because we need the smallest chair size, I'm pretty sure I've always sat in the medium-size chair, but for me this just isn't comfortable. But, this is obviously a highly personal thing. As I mentioned, this is the single most popular office chair in the entire world. Maybe it's just the contrarian in me, but this goes to show that actually sitting in a chair trumps anyone’s recommend, every time.

Another Herman Miller hottie is the Eames aluminum office chair. This chair comes in several variations. There's a high-back and low back version, and you can get it with additional cushion support, or a headrest. This is one of the most frequently knocked off and copied pieces of furniture in the world. If you buy a cheaper version, you will still get the same look, but not the same quality and engineering. With task chairs, quality and engineering run the show. Aesthetically speaking, this is one of the more refined looking task chairs on the market. This is due its simplicity, for one thing, its arms are a shiny aluminum that have no adjustability, but the lack of levers and pulleys gives us that streamlined look. Also, the five star base, I mentioned before, is in a matching polished aluminum. This is a departure from standard task chairs, most of which have black plastic bases for their durability and low maintenance. A metal base on a task chair will always look deluxe, but if shining your office furniture isn’t on your list of things that brings you joy, plastic is the more everyday life kind of vibe.  

Technically speaking, this chair is best used for a conference room - it’s not quite designed to be a full day’s sit. However, once in a while you will see them used at desks. Especially in a home office situation where you may not be in front of your computer for a full 8 hours. If you’re job is structured so that you are running around town most of the day and maybe you just sit at your computer for a couple hours to go through emails, this is a great option. But if you’re writing code or drafting all day, you will need a little more support.

Then, we have the super prevalent task chair company is Steelcase. Their Think task chair is a best seller and positions itself slightly more mid-market than the luxury designer options we just reviewed, but it’s still a hefty investment piece. Manufactured in Grand Rapids, MI, this chair also has a mesh back but it includes a solid, adjustable lumbar support, adjustable height arms that also swivel in place, and the ability to recline. It also comes in a variety of colors, so if the black office chair is giving you downer vibes, you can order it in light and bright Seagull gray.

One of my favorite places to look for task chairs are office liquidator warehouses. With all the booming and busting of our economy, many offices need to escape their leases ASAP and your local liquidator is happy to take things off their hands - and resell to people like you are me for a fraction of the cost.

Another great task chair company that will always have a dear place in my heart is the company HON. This company is great for home office furniture supplies. They have reasonable prices, and basically fuel the whole economy of their small town headquarters in Iowa.

If you want high style at a lower price, definitely check out Poppin. You may have heard of this company for their desk organizing supplies, but they make some decent looking chairs too. These are not exactly investment pieces, which can take some of the pressure out of the shopping process, but they are still a great company, with quality products.

All of these names I’m mentioning are companies that specialize in design and production of office furniture - this is a different category compared to typical home furnishing stores, which will certainly have approximations of task chairs. But with these specialized companies, you’ll get a quality product that will likely outlast typical retail options and often you’ll find long warranties with these manufacturers. HON, for instance, has a lifetime warranty on many of their products, meaning if an element breaks, they will repair or replace it for you. Remember, task chairs are specially engineered, and when corners are cut to create a cheaper product - problem arise. Common one include casters (aka the wheels on your chair) that damage or break easily, or just don’t roll properly in the first place, discoloration of materials, and padding that deflates within a couple years. Remember, we live in these things, so they take a lot of wear and tear.

Okay, now let’s talk alternatives. Because not everyone vibes on the task chair, and we deserve choice.

There was a time, I think it was around the first big dotcom bubble, when sitting on a sports medicine ball in front of your desk was the thing to do. I still think this can be a great,  ergonomic solution. It forces you to keep both feet flat on the floor, engage your abs, sit up straight and -  viola -  perfect posture! The only thing to note is that this type of seat can be tiring for some people. If you're the type of person that likes to fidget throughout the day, this chair style really only allows one work posture, so it might not be for you. But it's definitely worth consideration especially if you're trying to correct a bad back.

An iteration on the idea of the medicine ball, is one of my favorites the Ergo Ergo chair. This backless, brightly colored, accordion style chair is a playful addition to your home office. It has many of the same benefits of an exercise ball except it won’t roll away on you.

One of my favorite alternatives to the traditional task chair is the task stool. This is a taller version of an office chair, and most models come in both standard height and stool height. This does require that your work surface is also higher, so it's great for counters and high top tables. I've always found these to be super comfortable. Maybe it's because I went to art school and we all sat on stools for five years, or maybe it's because I'm short and I love being able to rest my foot on the foot bar. These are definitely not for everyone, but if you see one in a store, give it a sit test!

One thing I want to clarify, is if you have a standing height or adjustable height desk, or you have a standing desk converter (one of those contraptions that allows you to raise and lower your computer and keyboard), the best option is still to use a standard height task chair. The idea is when you have the desk up in a high position you are actually standing, and when the desk is lower, in a more traditional height, that's when you're seated. I've had clients who want to pair task stools with adjustable height desks and it really just limits the amount of options you have for work postures. So if you do end up getting a task stool, you want to have a fixed height, high work surface, like a traditional drafting board or a work counter. 

And I will leave you with the thought that no matter how ergonomic and fantastic your chair is, even if you have a deluxe sit-stand desk, it is so critical to get up and walk away from your computer at least a couple times an hour. It's the age old idea of move a muscle change a thought. And I get that this can be hard, it's taken me years to embrace this idea. I used to sit in front of my computer for 3 to 4 hours at a time, easily. We are meant to move. So find the perfect task chair for you, and then make sure to walk away from it. I'll talk to you in the next episode