Steelcase Think Chair

By Reena Jana for Business Week

Editor's Rating: 4 out of 5 star rating
The Good: Comfortable, beautiful, and easy to adjust
The Bad: So comfortable it's hard to get up; pricey
The Bottom Line: A functional and lovely chair, worth the price

During a recession, it's hard to justify purchasing new office furniture, especially of the sleek and stylish variety. Sure, it was one thing to shell out $1,000 for an Aeron Chair back in the dot-com bubble days. Or even during the more recent mid-2000s boom. But spending upwards of $729 on a chic seat like Steelcase's (SCS) Think chair now?

While it seems like an extreme expenditure, it could just be worth it.

This is the conclusion I come to after trying out a Think chair in "Coconut" (white vinyl) at work for four months—the whole first quarter of 2009. If white vinyl sounds impractical, think again: Its surface was as soft as real leather, and you can wipe away spilled coffee without guilt.

The chair design features two trade-marked mechanisms created by Steelcase after consulting health experts at institutions such as the University of Vermont's Back Research Center. Flexible metal bands in the seat back support and move with your back, while the reclining apparatus underneath the seat leverages body weight to provide a smooth transition from sitting upright to leaning backward. Gone are the jarring or jerky position switches that can occur with other office chairs. And you can adjust the arm rests, covered with a cushiony plastic, so they can slide closer to the body. Move them backward and forward by nudging them with your elbows—wonderful when typing and then abruptly moving toward the phone to answer a call. There aren't any complicated levers, though you can "program" your favorite chair positions via an analog, manual knob.

Troubles Vanish

In the months I tried the chair, I saw some writing-related injuries disappear. (Full disclosure: I usually sit in an Aeron Chair.) I'm not sure this is coincidence. A small cyst in my left wrist disappeared during this time. The wrist aches I used to have from typing too much went away—although I was in fact typing more than before.

Which brings me to a caveat: When I was using the Think chair, I took fewer breaks to get up and walk around. While I certainly was productive during the first quarter of 2009, I had to wonder about how healthy these hour-long spells of sitting really were.

Another "warning": The Think chair is good-looking. Colleagues who usually don't walk past my cubicle made detours because they had heard I had a cool new seat. Invariably, they commented on the chair's striking appearance. I don't think it's a coincidence that the features added to the latest version of the Think chair (the first version was launched nearly five years ago) are new fabrics and colors. In March, Steelcase announced bright new shades that essentially, and unofficially, match the vibrant hues of the current Apple (AAPL) iPod Nano music players. On the chairs, the colors are featured in a soft, knit fabric. Sure, this is a cosmetic upgrade, but the fact that no other upgrades were announced also speaks to the effectiveness of the chair's original design and engineering.

While its price tag suggests it's a bit of a luxury right now, the real reason to buy the chair is its functionality—its ergonomic comfort and simplicity of use. But the new Think chair's jewel-toned fabrics provide a bit of a mood boost, too. And these days, who couldn't use a mood boost as well?

Stay Home and Work

Ms. Kanter writing for Harvard Business has some interesting policy ideas:
Stay Home and Work

ROSABETH MOSS KANTER THE CHANGE MASTER
President Obama, here is a deceptively simple action item to put on your agenda for business growth, working families, and a green future: Make it the norm for everyone to work at home at least one day a week. That single step could raise productivity, save energy, decrease pollution, reduce traffic congestion, cut household expenses, increase quality of family life, and keep educated women in the work force.

Workers of the world, go remote!

During this time of economic crisis and reinvention of global capitalism, one of the things crying out for reinvention is the rigid workplace of the last century. It is amazing in the digital age that most work is still associated with industrial age work rhythms and the symbolic chains that tie workers, knowledge and otherwise, to fixed locations. Flexible workplaces with flexible hours and days are long in coming.

Many U.S. cities have become commuter nightmares as urban sprawl sends people across longer distances in their cars every week day. According to the 2008 U.S. Census estimates, 84 percent of the U.S. population lives within 363 metropolitan areas that spill over central city boundaries and, in some cases, over state lines. Jobs within central business districts have been declining, while jobs outside a ten-mile ring have been growing. Vehicle miles traveled have increased twice as fast as population growth.

The daily commute to work has high costs in time, aggravation, fuel consumption, and pollution. If it became a staggered commute of four days a week for everyone, then perhaps 20 percent of the traffic could be gone, vanished, poof, just like that.

. . . 

To reinvent the work place, we need public officials to put the infrastructure and permission in place, companies to start the change process, and people to learn how to work together with new norms. With Stephanie Khurana, founder of several high-tech companies and now the flexible consulting firm, Higher Aims, I want to start a dialogue about etiquette for the flexible workplace. Let's do it with the time we are saving and the energy we are conserving by not going into the office one day a week.

View full article: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/kanter/2009/04/stay-home-and-work.html

Steelcase Office

Here is the Steelcase Think chair with a Steelcase extended curve desk. My client was left handed and wanted the computes on the left side, while leaving space on the right to meet with clients face to face. We acomplished this goal by giving her a desk with a small left return for the computer while still keeping the front of the desk clear to meet with clients. We added a mobile filling cabinet for under desk file storage.

Small Office Designs Featuring Steelcase

These office designs were created by Karen.

Steelcase Think® Work Chair 3D Knit Back 3D Model

Design Your Own Steelcase Think Chair at http://www.smartfurniture.com/think

You can also download this model here

Steelcase Leap Chair Review

Funny--Leap Chair Productivity

Steelcase Amia Design Story

Beneath the Amia chair’s upholstery, inside its sleek backrest, there’s a form of our unique comfort system called LiveLumbar™ technology. You may not see it, but you’ll certainly feel it. As you sit in the chair, an adjustable LiveLumbar™ zone flexes with your every move, for consistent ergonomic support for your lower back. Hour after hour, day after day. With additional comfort features like 4-way adjustable arms, adjustable seat depth and a flexible front seat edge, Amia keeps you feeling good 24/7. It’s a chair for every day, that’s not your everyday chair.

Available at SmartFurniture.com

Amia 3D Model--Download it here at the Google 3D Warehouse.

Custom Home Office Design

Custom Home Office Design Created by Design Specialists at SmartFurniture.com. This home office features the Steelcase Cobi Chair (coming soon) and the Tour Pile File from Steelcase.

Cobi is Coming

Available for purchase at www.SmartFurniture.com in June 2009, the Cobi Office Chair by Steelcase encourages you to move and supports a variety of postures. Getting comfortable is simple. A weight-activated mechanism in the Cobi Chair's frame senses and supports your own center of gravity, adjusting to the position that minimizes stress on your body.