by AF 0621 e3 NEOCON: — June 24, 2009—Herman Miller, Inc., introduced its next generation of multipurpose chairs with the Setu Collection, designed by Studio 7.5. The seating was on display during NeoCon World’s Trade Fair at The Merchandise Mart, Chicago.
Setu won in two categories in The Best of NeoCon product competition: Gold for Conference Seating, and Silver for Sofas and Lounge Seating. The initial Setu offering will include the Setu 5-star, 4-star, butterfly, butterfly stool, and lounge and ottoman. Future models are planned.
Multipurpose chairs are used where people sit for shorter periods and frequently move, such as conference rooms, touchdown workstations, and collaborative spaces. However, these so-called temporary spaces are now less temporary. For many, all the places we sit are temporary as we move throughout the day, spending an hour or two at a time in different places.
The problem is that existing multipurpose chairs aren’t designed to handle longer-term sitting and more active use. The 7.5 team found the one-piece seat and back typical of multipurpose chairs is not very comfortable; instead comfort is compromised for affordability. They recognized a need for a new kind of multipurpose chairone combining work-chair principles of motion and comfort with good looks, simplicity, and an affordable price.
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| Here is a detail of the seat’s Kinematic Spine. |
Herman Miller and Studio 7.5 created Setu to answer those needs, with key inventions that greatly improve on comfort and support: the Kinematic Spine and the Lyris seat suspension material. Throughout Setu’s development, Studio 7.5 was guided by their quest for simplicity. We want everything as simple as possible, but no simpler, noted the designers, paraphrasing Einstein. Simplicity is especially important in multipurpose seating, where chairs may be used in many places, and many different people may use the same chair during the day.
From the moment users sits down, that person and the chair move as one. Setu’s Kinematic Spine is the primary reason. It has tilt-like kinematics in one continuous seat and back, rather than in a separate seat pan, back rest, and tilt. Because of the spine, there is no tilt mechanism on the chair, and the only adjustment is seat height. There’s nothing to tilt, nothing to tweak, nothing to think about. It’s mathematics in place of mechanisms.
Thanks to Setu’s Kinematic Spine, chair components are greatly minimized. The Setu basic chair has few parts and weighs less than 20 pounds. Setu Chairs support Herman Miller’s commitment to the environment, helping the company reach its sustainability goals of zero landfill, zero hazardous waste generation, and zero VOC emissions into the air by 2020.
For more information, see the Herman Miller, Inc. Web site.
