History & Evolution of Office Chairs
Have you ever wondered how far office chairs have evolved over the years? From the wooden chairs of the past to today’s adjustable ergonomic chairs, office chairs have seen continuous development and refinement. In this blog, we will take a look at the history and evolution of office chairs and how they’ve become more comfortable and supportive.
Industrial revolution and office chairs
Prior to the 19th century, the majority of the population was agrarian. This meant that "office chairs" were significant only to academics or rich government officials. Though chairs have been quite common since 1900 BC, it is believed that naturalist Charles Darwin was the first person to be known to have used an early version of an office chair. He added wheels to a regular chair that allowed him to swivel between lab specimens. After the onset of the Industrial Revolution, more people were needed for administrative tasks like bookkeeping and logistical coordination. This gave rise to administrative personnel and managers who needed to sit in offices for long hours doing business-related tasks. The rise of this clerical cadre and the need to make them comfortable were the driving factors in designing feature-packed office chairs.
Victorian office chairs
The first office chair to be mass-produced was Thomas Warren's Centripetal Office Armchair. This chair's casters and swivel mechanism made it easier for workers to reach objects without getting up. It had velvet upholstery, cast iron frames, and a frilly "skirt" to hide the seat's springs. But the chair wasn't much of a success due to the prevalent Victorian propriety that regarded comfortable chairs as immoral. But Victorian morality slowly disappeared as office workers started to become the backbone of the economy. Specialty chairs started to appear for dentists and barbers, which slowly powered the innovation of office chairs.
Architectural style chairs
During the beginning of the twentieth century, desk jobs became commonplace, and inventors started to come up with more designs for office chairs. But, they failed to prioritize comfort during the 1900s. The main focus was the architectural alignment of the chair with the surrounding office space. This is because managers continued to associate comfort with laziness, and design choices continued to be driven by cost and compatibility with the dominant architectural style.
In 1904, designer F. L. Wright developed a chair intended to improve the posture and comfort of typists. This chair, called the Larkin Building chair, regrettably quickly earned the moniker "suicide chair" because of its unstable seat and propensity to topple over while the user was seated.
The beginning of the comfortable and stylish ergonomic chair
Office chairs started to evolve into a distinctive shape after the Second World War. Around this time, industries that made military instruments, including plane cockpits and tanks, benefited greatly from ergonomic research. These studies vastly influenced the innovations in office chairs, which were also driven by rapid industrialization after the war in the United States.
Though numerous designs for office chairs have appeared throughout history, modern ergonomics didn't truly take off until the 1970s. Giancarlo Piretti and Emilio Ambasz's Vertebra Chair was among the earliest automatically adjustable chairs ever made available on the market. This chair was created to react and adjust to human movements and offer support and comfort.
The iconic Ergon Chair was developed in 1976 by Bill Stumpf, a designer for Herman Miller, and is regarded as a ground-breaking innovation in the field of task seating design. This chair was made with the intention of enhancing human comfort as well as preserving physical health. It had five-star legs, castors aiding effortless gliding, a foam-filled back and seat, levers to change tilt and height, and more intricate spine support. Stumpf had researched orthopedics and used timelapse photography to analyze the motions of office staff. He introduced features like enhanced height adjustability using the latest ergonomics research. Previously, although the average female's leg measures 16" from their thigh to the ground, the chairs used descended over 18".
The ergonomic chairs of the 1990s
During the tech boom of the 1990s, Herman Miller, now synonymous with modern furniture, introduced yet another innovative office chair design. The Aeron Chair, created by Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick, met the needs of the body as well as the eye. The "pellicle" breathable mesh back and reactive tilt, which helps control body temperature and support the user's back, were its two most remarkable characteristics.
Chairs of the 2000s
The development of office and ergonomic chairs was also influenced by cultural changes. The Gesture Chair from Steelcase was produced in 2013 in response to the societal distress caused by the horrific Sandy Hook tragedy. Nine previously unidentified positions were discovered using this chair, which was designed to research how individuals utilize their workspaces all day long. These discoveries laid the groundwork for future technologies that would ensure that people were kept healthy.
Steelcase also designed a SILQ chair in 2018 that can adjust to the shape of the user's body without the use of knobs or levers. The creative design adapts to the way our bodies move naturally to offer a seating option that is tailored to different uses for total support and comfort.
Looking for Ergonomic Office Chairs?
At Discount Office, we sell an incredible range of office chairs. For the best quality, low prices and fast delivery, choose Discount Office for your next ergonomic chair.
Sources
- https://www.btod.com/blog/evolution-office-chair/
- https://chairsfx.com/gaming-chair-news/ergonomic-innovation-history/
- https://qz.com/work/1351903/the-history-of-the-office-chair
- https://www.autonomous.ai/ourblog/office-chair-evolution-how-it-goes
- https://risedesk.io/blogs/blog/the-history-of-the-office-chair
- https://www.branchfurniture.com/blogs/turn-key/the-history-of-the-modern-office-chair
