Words Marisa Bartolucci

Sitting is Believing

Acuity by Allsteel

www.allsteeloffice.com

www.dcontinuum.com

Driftwood was the inspiration for the sleek shape of Acuity, Allsteel’s new ergonomic task chair, designed by Continuum, the Milan-based product consultancy. Bruce Fifield, head of the Continuum team, says they looked to “the way a branch is . . . lost to the waves and honed to its most essential elements.” When conducting surveys on sitting comfort, the team discovered that the first two minutes in a chair are critical, so they designed a seat cushion with a molded foam base, covered with memory foam, to offer instant cushioning. With that cushioning and a conforming mesh back, Acuity immediately—and reassuringly—embraces the sitter. By staying in contact when tilting forward or back, the chair encourages no-slump sitting. Weight-activated controls placed on each side of the seat enable custom adjustment of fit and flex. Acuity nods to nature not just in inspiration, but respect. The chair is manufactured in a wind-powered factory and boasts Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Silver Certification. Standard version, $1,250; premium version with tailored leather “jacket,” $2,525.

Weight-activated controls are elegantly situated below each side of the seat.

A mesh back conforms to the shape of the sitter, remaining in contact when moving forward and back to promote good posture.

Driftwood inspired Acuity's honed aluminum frame, deftly formed to support the sitter's back.

A specially conceived seat cushion with a molded foam base, covered in memory foam, provides instant comfort.

Storage Transformed

Teneo by Herman Miller

www.hermanmiller.com

www.birselplusseck.com

The paperless office was supposed to have arrived decades ago, but we’re still figuring out where to put our daily surfeit of documents, not to mention our ever-mounting digitalphernalia. If anything about the office has changed, it’s the walls—they’re gone. So where to put the file cabinets? Herman Miller proposes an alternative, Teneo, a handsome assortment of freestanding storage units that they developed with the New York design firm Birsel + Seck. “We were inspired in part by the storage units of the Eameses, by their simplicity and flexibility,” Ayse Birsel says. She and her partner, Bibi Seck, deconstructed the traditional concepts of storage, and reconceived them for more adaptable, modular applications, for home, office, school or healthcare. Seck used his background in automobile design to create a standard platform, a pair of anodized aluminum rings in four heights, that can support various claddings and utilities, such as shelving and drawers. The 25 different parts that make up Teneo can be combined into 80 products, including islands, wall units, serving carts, easels and lecterns. Teneo’s generous range of cladding options also allows for a wide variety of looks: open, directional, even somewhat formal. If needs or situations change, so can Teneo. You can transform the character and purpose of the chameleon-like units simply by switching their cladding and utilities, which promises to make them a long-lasting investment. In addition to being developed according to Herman Miller’s Design for the Environment (DfE) protocol, Teneo is being evaluated for Cradle to Cradle (C2C) Silver certification. Prices range from $745 to $3182.

Aye Birsel's sketch depicting how she and Seck went about rethinking the storage unit

An exploded view of Teneo reveals its aluminum ring platform

an array of Teneo units

Birsel’s sketch shows how a Teneo unit can be “recycled” over a lifetime