Today, Steelcase in Grand Rapids, a designer and manufacturer of office furniture, officially launched Steelcase Karman, a first-of-its-kind ergonomic mesh chair designed to naturally respond to the body’s movements, provide added comfort, and deliver on sustainability.
Inspired by the Kármán Line, where the earth’s atmosphere meets space, weightlessness becomes possible, Steelcase worked to push the boundaries of existing design and engineering to create Steelcase Karman.
Steelcase Karman’s uses new proprietary performance textile Intermix, which is developed through an exclusive weaving process that incorporates yarns and filaments into the weave. In unison with Steelcase Karman’s flexible frame, Intermix is designed to achieve perfect tension that distributes body weight evenly over the seat and back, flexing to its movement, fitting the contours of the body and creating ideal ergonomic support so it never sags.
The combination design also aims to eliminate stiff edges. This is meant to allow users to be able to comfortably sit any way they want. Users should be able to lean or sit sideways and feel less pressure on the seat and back, which isn’t possible with many other mesh chairs.
“In a world experiencing fundamental changes in the way people work, whether at home, in the office or both, we need and want a chair that works better,” says Mark Spoelhof, design director for Steelcase. “Comfort is built into every aspect of Steelcase Karman – it’s reactive to each body type and posture and adapts to all the different ways in which we might sit in a chair so you’re not aware of it, but it moves with you continually.”
Going beyond black, white, and gray, Steelcase Karman is offered in a range of proprietary Intermix colors and Lux finishes, making hundreds of aesthetic options. Inspired by athletic performance wear, the filaments can be spaced close together to create an opaque version of Intermix, or further apart to create a transparent, more traditional mesh look.
Using multiple colors in the weave creates the appearance of a color shift when looking at the chair from different angles.
Steelcase Karman’s design approach started with the environment in mind. It not only uses sustainable materials but is comprised of the least number of components necessary. Its leading model weighing only 29 pounds, Steelcase Karman is designed for both sustainability and to have the strength to support all body types.
“We’ve pushed materiality, shape ,and geometry as far as we can push them, using significantly less material than other performance chairs, while offering even better affordances,” says Spoelhof.
“Many of Steelcase Karman’s parts are doing double or triple duty allowing it to function with about one-half less material than traditional task chairs so that it is as organically responsive to the human body as possible. Steelcase Karman is the amalgam of all our learning and legacy – there’s DNA of every single one of our chairs built into it. It’s the evolution of everything we know about seating and the way people work.”
