The result of a unique partnership between designer Mark Goetz and PostureFit® inventor and longtime Herman Miller seating advisor Dr. Brock Walker, the Taper Chair delivers a high-touch, high-comfort, high-performance experience, raising the bar for performance in executive seating. The chair was developed for Geiger.
“I wanted to design an incredibly comfortable chair that gives the personal fit of a custom-tailored suit, the support of the finest ergonomic chair, and the quality feel of a high-performance automobile seat,” says Goetz.
Dr. Walker is a former competitive skier and a specialist in design for human performance. His proprietary MEARS technology was developed to identify what the human body needs to be strong and comfortable, and then help a designer translate those needs into design requirements for seating that empowers the person sitting in the chair.
Every contour of Taper has a purpose. The complex contouring of the upholstered backrest focuses support in areas of the back that are important for musculoskeletal balance: the sacrum, or base of the spine, and the transition between the lumbar and thoracic spine.
By supporting these key areas, the chair’s backrest design encourages seated individuals to assume a more powerful seated posture: hips rotated forward, spine curved in a natural S-shape, chest open, shoulders back.
The seat of the Taper Chair uses an innovative suspension construction that adapts to the pelvis, so a person feels comfortably supported from the moment they sit down. While executive chairs traditionally feature padding, Goetz took Taper in the opposite direction. “The closer that we get to the human body and the needs of the human body, the less material we need to use,” he says. “The whole way we achieved comfort in this chair is to get very close to the human body, to the point where you can actually see evidence of where your body belongs,” in the chair.
The chair’s tilt—a modified version of Herman Miller’s most advanced tilt mechanism—delivers a balanced, controlled ride throughout the chair’s full range of recline.
It’s this seamless merger of design for human performance with Geiger’s core strength in quality construction and craft that makes the Taper Chair truly unique among executive chairs.
Taper was honored with a Best of NeoCon Gold Award in the category of Ergonomic Seating.
Premiering at NeoCon, the Taper Chair will be available in the North American market beginning fall 2017.
For more information, contact media_relations@hermanmiller.com.
About Geiger
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, with manufacturing facilities in Atlanta and Hildebran, North Carolina, Geiger specializes in finely crafted wood furnishings. This commitment to craft was first made in 1964 in the four-person workshop of company founder, master cabinetmaker John Geiger. His drive for absolute quality found its perfect expression in the 1980s through Geiger’s collaboration with Ward Bennett, whose characteristic minimalism defined the pinnacle of corporate design. Today, Geiger creates environments designed to deliver an exceptional experience.
About Herman Miller
Herman Miller is a globally recognized provider of furnishings and related technologies and services. Headquartered in West Michigan, the global company has relied on innovative design for over 100 years to solve problems for people wherever they work, live, learn, and heal. Herman Miller’s designs are part of museum collections worldwide, and the company is a past recipient of the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Award. Known and respected for its leadership in corporate social responsibility, Herman Miller has earned the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s top rating in its Corporate Equality Index ten years in a row, was named a 2016 Top 100 Healthiest Employer, and has earned numerous global sustainability awards. In fiscal 2016, the company generated $2.26 billion in revenue and employed nearly 8,000 people worldwide. Herman Miller trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol MLHR.
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