Human Scape

The price of sitting comfortably is the price of ergonomic support as you work.

The human body was not made to sit still. Indeed, the human body was not made to sit. But office work and computer work demands the seated posture from many of us. The space-constraints of the open-plan office, the office desk, and the home-office make it impractical to use a large comfy armchair. So the humble office chair has to suffice.

The office chair is continuously evolving to address the issues mentioned above:

It is small enough and narrow enough to fit the space allocated to it It is shaped to give you reasonable comfortable access to space on your desk, your computer and the surrounding area from the seated position It provides reasonable ergonomic support for your lower back, your arms and your knees during long periods of desk-based work It allows you to move your body constantly as you work (it glides, swivels and tilts) It allows you to change your posture to more comfortable seated positions as you work, and can be adjusted to accommodate people with different body shapes and different ergonomic needs (through adjustable seat height, adjustable armrest height & width, adjustable seat tilt, adjustable backrest height, adjustable neck-rest and adjustable lower back support) – some of these features are ‘advanced’ options that do not come with every office chair

There are also different types of swivel office chairs to choose from, depending on your individual taste and style. You can buy:

a computer task chair, an executive office chair, a luxury executive armchair, a classic traditional-style armchair, or a futuristic designer office chair, etc.

And then there is the choice of how you would like your chair to be upholstered – in fabric or leather.

If you choose a chair upholstered in fabric, you can choose a chair:

with a polycarbonate outer shell and fabric front or fully covered front and rear in your chosen fabric.

Conversely, if you choose a chair upholstered in leather, you can select one:

with a polyurethane rear and leather face or fully covered front and rear in your chosen leather and with a relatively inexpensive ‘split-grain’ leather or a high quality soft ‘top-grain’ leather.
So what are you paying for when you buy an office chair?

Many of the things mentioned at the top of the list above have become standard features that are required of any chair that is to meet the British and European definitions of an ‘office chair’. Therefore you have to pay for these features whatever you buy. Inevitably some suppliers have found ways to provide these standard features as inexpensively as possible in order to remain competitive on price.

The less expensive office chairs are most often imported from countries such as China where the cost of labour and materials are still relatively low. Such chairs will typically come in a very limited range of colours (often just blue, burgundy and grey fabric, or black leather); they will have a polycarbonate shell and fabric front, or a polyurethane rear and leather face, and the leather will be ‘split-grain’. And their ergonomic adjustment features will usually be limited to a backrest tilt & lock, adjustable seat height, fixed or height-adjustable arms, and sometimes a height-adjustable backrest.

The wider range of options mentioned further down the list are found in office chairs made in the UK, other EU countries, and North America. And they can add significantly more to the cost of your chair. Thus you pay a higher price for a wider choice of fabric and leather colours, full upholstery (front and rear), and high quality soft ‘top-grain’ leather (instead of ‘split-grain’ leather). And you pay more for soft wheels that won’t mark wooden floors, adjustable lower back support (lumbar support), height & width adjustable arms, fold-away arms (or fold-back arms), adjustable neck-rests, and special ergonomic chairs suitable for 24 hour round-the-clock use (such as in control centres & call centres), chairs for heavier persons (e.g. with a capacity of up to 23 stone or even 35 stone), chairs for taller persons (e.g. with deeper seats and taller backrests), and chairs for persons with lower back problems (e.g. with polycarbonate backrest frames and/or adjustable lower back supports).

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By: Bola Egunjobi

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