Did you know that the average American adult spends about 6½ hours a day sitting — an increase of about an hour a day since 2007? Due to the rising trend of remote work and makeshift home offices, that number will only continue to grow and you might be curious about the best office chairs.
Given the amount of time we all spend sitting down, it might be time to upgrade your home office, especially the right chair. Ergonomics, comfort, and the overall aesthetic should all be top of mind when considering where you’ll be sitting in all day. But buying office chairs online is a lot like dating online – it’s tough to move forward without physically seeing your options.
Whether you’re concerned about adjustability, price, sustainability, or even shipping, we’re going to break down the best office chairs to determine which one is best for you.
Series 1, “The Multitasker”
Series 1 is Steelcase’s most affordable office chair, but that doesn’t mean it lacks quality craftmanship. In fact, the Series 1 design team had to work even harder since they refused to waver on performance while still maintaining an accessible price point. With 11 mix-and-match knit, flexor and lumbar colors, and a wide range of shell and finish options, Series 1 offers an abundance of choices that performs well in any setting.
Bruce Smith, Steelcase director of global design, explains why the story behind Steelcase Series 1 is as remarkable as the chair itself. “Instead of putting design at the forefront of the problem, we put the other disciplines at the forefront of the problem. This illustrates the fact that creativity isn’t exclusively a design problem,” says Smith. “Creativity is a problem for all disciplines and all functions. So, anything we can do to elevate creativity for all disciplines is a powerful thing.”
If you are looking for an efficient design, affordable chair that has ergonomics to support your workday no matter the task, the Series 1 is for you.
Amia Air, “The Unsung Hero”
Amia Air offers a fresh take on Steelcase’s hardworking, reliable Amia task chair. The updated Air version has a very breathable plastic/mesh back. Put your fears of buying a chair sight unseen to rest with this ergonomic chair that adds an element of sophistication to any work environment.
Whether it’s the conference room, home office, or a spare bedroom filled with childhood memorabilia that’s now being used as a personal workspace, the versatile design of the Amia office chair fits into anywhere.
Designed by the Steelcase Design Studio in collaboration with industrial designer Thomas Overthun of IDEO, the team’s goal was to create a quietly intelligent chair. The specially engineered geometric design in the backrest offers flexibility to encourage healthy movement and provide support for posture changes.
If you’re looking for a versatile task chair that prioritizes comfort, then the Amia air is for you.
SILQ, “The Creative”
When you think of breakthrough innovation, you might not immediately think of office chairs. However, SILQ is a completely new kind of chair for the workplace.
Its material, shape, and construction respond naturally to your body so the way you move is the way it moves. On top of its intuitive performance, it eliminates machinery typically found underneath most chairs and requires only one adjustment: height.
Originally sketched by James Ludwig, Vice President, Global Design & Engineering of Steelcase, SILQ was always intended to be a simple design that required virtually no adjustments. The design team behind SILQ pushed the boundaries of material science when a breakthrough that embodied the qualities of carbon fiber allowed them to deliver at mass scale.
The sleek profile and clean lines of the chair create a canvas for individual expression while the wide variety of material and digital-printing combinations can mirror creative personalities or professions.
If you’re looking for a high design chair that looks great everywhere and can support short term seating that accommodates your nomadic schedule, SILQ is for you.
Gesture, “The Ergo Nerd”
Most chairs are only designed to fit one person: the average. Steelcase’s Gesture chair solves for the broadest range of sizes. Whether large or small, Gesture promises personalized and custom comfort for all users in one simple solution, all while utilizing a minimal footprint.
Gesture also supports movement between devices and healthy postures when interacting with technology—the first office chair to do so. Steelcase observed over 2,000 people on six continents in a wide range of postures. This study found nine new postures that are not adequately addressed by current seating solutions. Through its unique design, Gesture takes each of these postures into consideration as well as unique body sizes, shapes, genders and generations.
Until now, headrests have largely been an afterthought, but the Gesture headrest is integrated into the design. The headrest takes head size, neck length and desired range of motion into consideration to support a greater range of sizes. Additionally, your arms and shoulders remain supported when texting on a smartphone, typing on a keyboard or swiping on a tablet, helping to prevent Text Neck™.
If you’re looking for an award-winning chair that support a range of postures throughout the day, with expansive arm adjustments while using handheld devices, Gesture is for you.
Think, “Beauty and the Brains”
Often referred to as the chair made for people who sit for a living, Steelcase’s Think chair reflects the simplest, most streamlined embodiment of how you sit throughout the day.
The Think chair is not only smart enough to understand how you sit, but it can also adjust itself intuitively. Its intelligent ergonomic design allows you to personalize your comfort with few manual adjustments. For example, the weight-activated mechanism recognizes your weight and adjusts itself accordingly while the comfort dial allows you to select one of four positions to adjust the amount of back tension and recline.
Steelcase collaborated with several universities, including the Technical University of Denmark, Michigan State University, and the University of Vermont Back Research Center, for scientific studies and observational research in the workplace on how people sit and voila, Think was created.
If you’re looking for a sustainable chair that conforms to your posture but doesn’t compromise on aesthetics, Think is for you.
Leap, “The Executive”
With exceptional comfort and support, Leap provides a healthier way to sit. As Steelcase’s best-selling, ergonomic office chair, Leap features patented technology proven to increase productivity.
Leap knows that everyone’s spine motion is unique and even people of identical size, age, and gender all have different spine movements. When you recline in traditional chairs, the distance between you and your work can increase, but Leap’s Natural Glide System™ cleverly adapts to your natural movements with simple controls that are easy to find, understand and use.
If you are looking for Steelcase’s legacy tried and true best-selling chair, Leap is for you.
What’s next?
It can be nerve-wracking purchasing office chairs sight unseen, but Steelcase’s Product Visualizer can help you design the best office chairs. Select a model and add finishes, then generate a custom image with estimated price and spec details for any configuration.
Once you’ve landed on the chair of your dreams, head over to eSales at Red Thread to access the Steelcase Store!
