Back in the ’90s, Herman Miller’s Aeron — a mega-ergonomic desk chair with a menacingly mechanistic silhouette — was as revered as a corner office. But now, with tech startups and freelancer-focused coworking spaces ushering in a new era of hotel lobby-esque work environments, even stiff corporate businesses are in the mood for something cozier. Hence the rise of shared hot desks, social lounge spaces, and now, soft, armchair-like desk seating. The chief executive of this new wave of workplace seating is Vitra’s Pacific chair, the brainchild of Ace Hotel Shoreditch designers Barber & Osgerby. With its clean, uncluttered profile, it’s meant for an era of pencil-thin laptops — not chunky CPU towers. No wonder Apple’s already ordered 12,000 of them for its Cupertino headquarters.
“We wanted something calm, that sits quietly but still offers full function. It’s not a scary plastic creature.” – Designer Jay Osgerby
PACIFIC CHAIR BY VITRA. $1,550, vitra.com
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