Take a Seat

Wellington-based office seating and furniture company, Formway Design has featured recently in Fast Company, Time and The Wall Street Journal for its work on the Generation by Knoll office chair — a three-year collaboration between Formway and international home and office furnishings company Knoll. Fast Company senior writer Linda Tischler compares the Generation (pictured above in Lemongrass) to two other work chairs in a two-page spread. In particular, her article focuses on the “test-drive” responses of three “armchair quarterbacks — an ergonomics fanatic, a design freak and a Web guy”. Tischler writes: “‘Sit how you want,’ the Knoll chair invites. And it means it. The chair, created by New Zealand’s Formway Design has a bendable Flex Top that folds down like an armrest to accommodate sideways sitters and then bounces back to a serious posture when the boss appears.” Commenting on the chair’s Flex Back, Tischler’s “design dude” reports: “The best lower-back support of all three chairs.” Christina Binkley, writing for The Wall Street Journal also took a “test-drive”, saying that “I’m pretty sure I tried every possible sitting position in that chair. Criss-cross applesauce, legs-on-desk, leg draped over armrest, sideways — all were comfortable.” The Generation by Knoll chair will make its official debut at NeoCon 2009, the Chicago contract furniture industry trade exposition taking place June 15–17.