Take a Seat, Any Seat

A chair is just a chair, right?

From one angle, yes. From another, you could argue the office chair is the most basic – yet fundamental – piece of equipment in the work space.

Get it right and you’ll see productive staff using an item that’s so perfect for the job, they haven’t even noticed it. Get it wrong and you could feel the impact on worker productivity, performance and even creativity.

So, how do you choose the right seating for your business?

It’s our job to understand and appreciate an organisation in-depth, even when advising on something as simple as office chairs. That way we can focus on creating functional, innovative, inspiring and dynamic office design that suits our clients’ budget and requirements.

With that in mind, we sent two of our best selling chairs out on demonstration recently and asked users to rate their preference. The results were intriguing – but let’s leave those to the end.

Chair vs. chair

Let’s take a look at the chairs first. Both seat one person and both come in a choice of fabric colours so they can be matched to your corporate brand or interior scheme. Both are available with either mesh or padded backs and both are light enough to be carried by someone of slight build.

The chair with the grey seat pad is a popular and economical choice for many work places. It has a comfortable a seat pad, made of smart chromed steel and is slightly heavier than the one with the purple seat. The arms are polypropylene which means the upright must be located at the front. That design, combined with the thickness of the tube construction material, gives it a ‘robust’ look.

The higher end option is the stylish chair with the purple seat. It boasts a more comfortable seat pad and is made of polished aluminium and therefore lighter in weight. Crucially, the aluminium arms don’t require a front upright, so they can be slimmer which lends a sleeker appearance to the whole piece.

So which chair won the vote?

It probably won’t surprise you that, while on demonstration, 25 of the 27 people who used the chairs preferred the high end purple seated option. While both chairs proved robust the purple one also had the slight edge in terms of showing less minor wear.

It’s hardly rocket science to discover that the ‘winning’ chair is the more expensive one but the important question is ‘which chair suits your circumstances better?’ Is it worth the extra investment?

You may decide that, given its advantages in terms of performance, comfort, aesthetics and user preference, the purple chair will meet your needs much better and be the smartest buy in the long term.

Whatever you choose, we’re here to help find a solution that suits your requirements and your budget, whether that’s a a single chair or complete office fit-out.