DESIGN

Why this dapper and unassuming office chair is the new way to show your employees you’ve made it

Finally — a desk chair that's less corporate and more comfortable.

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. PACIFIC CHAIR ($1,550) BY VITRA.

“WE WANTED SOMETHING CALM, THAT SITS QUIETLY BUT STILL OFFERS FULL FUNCTION. IT’S NOT A SCARY PLASTIC CREATURE.” — DESIGNER JAY OSGERBY