Ideas in Motion

You only need to spend a few minutes talking to someone from Wilkhahn to learn some disturbing facts about the long-term damage that spending too much time in an unsuitable office chair can cause to our bodies. It’s a subject that’s been picked up by the media, but which the manufacturer has known about for a lot longer – over a decade ago, the company conducted research, in close collaboration with health experts and sports scientists, that identified the importance of movement to our physical and psychological well-being, and which led to the development of a groundbreaking concept that encourages motion in three dimensions while seated.

According to Dr Jochen Hahne, President of Wilkhahn, the research findings showed that posture-oriented ergonomic principles were outdated and a new direction for office furniture design was required. ‘Our conclusion and challenge became to teach seating how to walk, in order to bring back more physical activity into office work,’ he says, referring to the resulting Trimension dynamic seating concept, which was applied in the ON chair and engages the similar muscles and movements used when walking. ‘This concept, with its natural three-dimensional movements, stimulates and activates the whole human organism, helping people to feel and work better.’

The success of the ON chair, which is targeted at the premium market and features generous proportions suited to executive offices, conference rooms or reception desks, prompted demand for mid-market solutions that applies the same principles in a simplified format. To achieve this, Wilkhahn’s design team, led by former CEO of the Wiege design studio Michael Englisch, identified completely new ways to optimise construction and the use of materials, so that all the components work perfectly with each other. ‘For the IN chair as the sporty brother to the ON chair, we focused completely on the Trimension idea in order to develop only one model that fits all the needs of a compact task chair,’ explains Englisch, who also designed the ON chair while still with Wiege. The Trimension principles are clearly visible in the new design: viewed from behind, two joints can be identified, which, positioned close to the user’s hips, allow the seat to dovetail with the body’s movement.

One of the innovative interventions the design team implemented to reduce the number of components was to manufacture the seat and back system from a single piece of high-performance plastic. Using a technique borrowed from the automotive industry, this component combines two different materials in the same mould to enable different levels of stiffness and ensure the frame is both supportive and flexible. Moreover, the two swing arms on the underside of the seat have a direct influence on a central spring, resulting in instant responsiveness and meaning they function as part of the core mechanism, dispensing with the need for externally housed springs.

The fabric covering the seat and back is another feature given a radical rethink by Wilkhahn to enhance its performance. It uses a 3D knitting technology more typically found in high-performance sports shoes to provide different degrees of elasticity and support. Varying the material's density enables lumbar support to be integrated directly into the backrest, this ergonomic function resulting in an organic shape that is visible in the fabric surface.

IN is a departure from Wilkhahn's typically right-angled and geometrically oriented design language for swivel chairs. The reason is that the innovative production processes require softer shapes that can flow into moulds or be stitched together seamlessly. This gives the swivel chair a more organic and athletic aesthetic that is enhanced by the range of colours the various components can be specified in. The combination of precise engineering, performance materials and playful details provides the office chair with a look and feel akin to that of a mid-market sports car, with its extraordinary performance and comfort coupled with affordability.

For Wilkhahn, the IN chair is the culmination of a long and detailed development process, led by research into the wellbeing of office workers and informed by the latest material and manufacturing technologies. By applying the Trimension principles to a product with a more accessible price point, the company hopes to enable more people to experience the advantages of dynamic seating. We could all benefit from moving more, so why not do it all day long without even leaving the office? That’s why Wilkhahn believes it’s time to stop sitting still.