Humanscale Freedom Chair - Office ergonomics |
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Humanscale Freedom Chair Humanscale's Freedom chair: The Smart Way to Sit!
The Freedom chair, designed by renowned industrial designer Niels Diffrient and manufactured by the Humanscale Corporation, has revolutionized the task seating market by combining exceptional ease of use with superior functionality. The Humanscale Freedom chair’s next-generation design uses automatic functionality instead of the locks and levers found on traditional chairs. This approach encourages users to change positions throughout the day without needing to operate manual controls, which ultimately promotes user comfort and health.Since its 1999 introduction to the market in prototype form, Freedom has been the darling of the architecture and design communities, has won a total of ten design awards, and has been written up in every major design publication.
“Freedom may well be the simplest and ‘smartest’ chair the world has ever known,” says Robert King, Humanscale’s founder. “It far exceeds current performance standards, making new ways of working possible.” Freedom eliminates the tension and lock knobs of current-generation task chairs. In their place is an intelligent mechanism that senses the weight of the user and automatically adjusts the backrest tension to provide optimal support through the full range of recline. Synchronized armrests adjust instantly with one simple motion, and the dynamic headrest moves into place as you recline and out of the way as you sit upright. Options include a load-distributing gel seat for unmatched comfort – a first in office seating.
Says Diffrient, “Most people do not properly use their chair controls and many don’t use them at all. In fact, such controls are barriers to movement. With Freedom, we’ve minimized the necessity for manual controls and maximized the ability for natural, spontaneous movement.”
King adds, “When sitting for any extended period of time, comfort becomes almost synonymous with movement. Current-generation chairs require people to operate manual controls to change their seated posture, so people tend to stay in fixed postures for very long periods of time. Niels has created a design that allows people to move without restraints, and therefore, without having to think about it.”
Not only is Freedom the most comfortable chair on the market, but it is also quickly becoming a modern classic: it was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as part of the “Workspheres” exhibit in 2001. The Freedom chair continues to be seen in dozens of television shows and movies, including the recently released “Fever Pitch” and the upcoming summer blockbuster “Mr. And Mrs. Smith”, as well as the hit TV shows “24”, “CSI: Miami”, “Medium”, “Boston Legal”, “Las Vegas”, and “Jake in Progress”.
Freedom received the prestigious Design Distinction Award in ID magazine’s Design Review 2000 because “the jurors were awed by the mechanics, wowed by the comfort and overcome with excitement about the possibility of changing the contract-seating market forever.” Only three years after Freedom’s debut, the New York Times named it “the gold standard in office seating.”
The Humanscale Freedom chair contains approximately 60% recycled material (by weight) and is 90% recyclable. It was designed with fewer parts and weighs far less than other high-end task chairs. Fewer parts and less material mean less energy and waste, which means that Freedom is doing good things for the environment too.
About Humanscale: Humanscale designs and manufactures ergonomic products for a more comfortable workplace. From the Humanscale Freedom chair to the Diffrient Light – each product is designed to improve the health, efficiency and quality of work life. Humanscale’s seating, monitor arms, lighting, keyboard supports and other ergonomic accessories follow the belief that if a design solves a functional problem as simply and elegantly as possible, the resulting form will be honest and timeless. In their annual issue celebrating the individuals and organizations that “Drive Design,” the prestigious design publication I.D. Magazine recognized Humanscale as one of 10 Best companies worldwide “that help push design forward." Humanscale was the only company from the contract furniture industry, and one of only seven U.S. organizations honored.
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