Embody™ Chair Interview with Jeff Weber

The thoughtful, creative partner of Bill Stumpf, Jeff Weber carries on Bill's legacy at Studio Weber and Associates in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Jeff Weber in the Embody Chair

Jeff Weber: Our intent was not to replace the Aeron chair. If you look at the lineage of the work chair designs by Herman Miller, including the Ergon®, the Equa®, the Aeron and now the Embody - all are designed to coexist and are credible alone. The advancements in the predecessors have allowed us to produce the successor. In terms of knowledge, I see Embody as the next evolution in that lineage.

JW: As a design student, I was certainly aware of Herman Miller and Bill Stumpf.

After graduating I worked for an HMI competitor in their internal industrial design studio and soon became frustrated with the lack of design philosophy and leadership. I explored other opportunities, and one of the targeted individuals who I was interested in working with, was Bill Stumpf.

Almost twenty years ago I began working with Bill Stumpf as an apprentice designer. I soon began work on the Aeron chair with him and Don Chadwick, and our relationship progressed from there; we became partners in 1998. Eventually, we worked on the Embody chair together.

Unfortunately, we lost Bill in August of 2006, in the midst of the Embody chair development, of which he was very proud. We continue to maintain the studio, in terms of basic philosophy and operation, very similarly to the way Bill had, we intend to carry on his legacy the best way we can.

Deconstructed Embody Chair

JW: We began midway through 2002 with a premise; we didn’t attempt to see around the broad shoulders of Aeron at that point in time.

We did not begin by attempting to design a chair; instead we went back to school, to get a better understanding of how people were working. From that point of view, we established a number of fundamental constraints, one was that the current work environment was primarily computer based. Then we developed a number of hypotheses, which we would test with people from a diverse range of experts in critical fields. The most important hypothesis: can we positively affect the health of the individual seated worker through the design of a chair? We began to test that hypothesis with various experts in the medical field and in ergonomics. The overwhelming answer was yes, you should pursue this, it’s possible. We began to generate a formula that would allow us to achieve health-positive effects through the design of a chair.

First there were several months of research. Then there was the concept-development phase. It took 2 years of pure research and exploration, then about 4 years on intensive product development.

JW: We adhere to the principle that form and function are one. The goal is always to produce an honest expression of form and function. This chair is not a minimalist expression of design but it is a rich and soulful visual feast. The aesthetic makes you wonder, it's provocative. This approach also optimizes the material use and is actually cost efficient by eliminating material redundancies. It also allows us to meet green design aspirations.

JW: In 1994, when the Aeron chair was introduced, we didn’t communicate using a computer and we didn’t search the Web like we do today. So Aeron was a predictor of the future and peoples’ changing relationship with the computer, it introduced new technology, also mesh suspension versus foam and fabric, which produced a very unique design problem: How do you accommodate the wide variety of users' sizes? The solution was to produce 3 graded sizes of architecture. We also understood later that 3 sizes challenged both the facility and the customer, in terms of distributing and inventorying chairs.

Every other intimate relationship we have with our bodies: clothing, footwear, other people and so on, are tailored to fit very well. So we tried to accommodate the breadth of people's sizes in the best way we could, with a single size chair platform, through a discreet series of adjustments and forms that would allow us to achieve that accommodation.

From our research, we knew that if we could produce one size platform, large corporate customers would embrace the idea, so they wouldn't need a number of different size chairs, even from an ergonomic point of view. Embody allows even the smallest person to enter the chair and gain support. Embody fits the vast majority of the population extremely well. From a humanistic point of view, it’s wonderful to fit all sizes.

As a retailer, how did you manage the 3 sizes?

JW: Yes, Embody is the re-materialization of the work chair. The primary premise of Embody is healthful support, movement and to introduce a greater level of motion into the equation whether its macro or micro movement. This forced us to produce a narrow back support shape, which allowed full range of movement for your arms.

The theory of support logic had to be changed as well. For Celle®, Mirra®, and Aeron, the support comes from the perimeter of the chair, as compared to Embody where we're attempting to support the trunk of the human body via the center line of the spine, so that forced us to develop what we call pixilation - a concept that enables the individual programmability of each one of those points that exist on the back and under the seat. Aeron supports from the hard perimeter inward and because we wanted to elevate the level of motion for the sitter, our support methodology had to change for Embody, so we're supporting the spine from the center.

Characteristically, the Embody support produces the best attributes of foam, softness to the touch and finite conformation coupled with the essence of the Aeron Pellicle® technology, which breathes and generally conforms very well. Embody is the synthesis of both technologies; it breathes, it is soft to the touch, it includes both micro and macro conformation without the use of any foam.

Plastic Skeleton

JW:The comfort comes from the pliability of the plastic components. Put your fist into the back of the chair and you'll notice that it flexes away and then supports. All the "H" structure armatures are mechanical load-leveling devices – they're instinctive. They react in intelligent ways when you apply force on them.

JW: (Laughs) Motion is a key to good health. One of the ways to elevate a person's health is through motion. If you look underneath, you'll see a composite structure of coil springs and elastic bands. The black lateral band behaves like pellicle and the coil springs behave like bed springs, which produce the softness associated with foam.

JW: The chair base and primary structure in which the arms connect and the back spine extends out of are cast aluminum. The remaining components are constructed out of conventional and sophisticated polymers.

JW: They keep your forearms supported while you interface with your input devices, they provide good base utility in terms of support.

We looked at the anomalies of human dimensions - discovering the huge variation in trunk and limb dimension of people who are the same height. Typically, they have different shoulder widths, arm lengths, torso lengths, etc. We took these anomalies into account in determining the adjustment range of the arms. You can also remove the arms and take them out of the work process equation completely.

JW: Medical and ergonomic schools of thought vary significantly on that point; our camp doesn’t believe in supporting the head in work-related postures.

JW: This is understandable. And recline postures are good, Embody encourages people to work and relax in reclined positions without the need of head support. It achieves this via the counteracting kinematics and the instinctive back. It’s difficult to support the head, so if we couldn’t do it properly, we decided not to do it at all. Embody provides a rich sitting experience and will surprise sitters with hidden goodness. 

Did you notice the tilt function? As it moves the body through space it continually aligns the eyes to the horizon as your recline. It articulates the thoracic region, with your head in balance, without producing stress. Thus no headrest is needed.

Then there's the Kicker – Are you near a chair? Put the chair upright. Now apply force to the upper part of the back and notice the articulation of the lumbar region, even in the most static condition, there's articulation and continued support. Put your hands behind your head in full recline and extend your spine. When you need to extend your spine (stretch) – Embody allows you to do it while maintaining support. In the extended position, someone could use a headrest, but we're not advocating staying in this position for an extended period of time.

The more you explore the forgiveness of the chair as a seated worker, the healthier you will be. I instruct people to exploit the forgiveness of the chair.

JW: I do it myself instinctively. It's very therapeutic.