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Global invention shown in the Greenhouse
The Herman Miller Cosm chair.
Global best invention shown in the Greenhouse
To celebrate that TIME magazine had named a leading office chair called Cosm one of the top inventions of 2019, the local agents for Africa hosted a designer media lunch at the Greenhouse, a fine dining establishment at the Cellars Hohenhort boutique hotel in Cape Town.
Herman Miller and Gareth Griffiths
The Cosm is designed by Studio 7.5 for Herman Miller, named one of the 100 Best Inventions of 2019. The chair was first launched at Salone Del Mobile in 2018
Studio 7.5’s elegant task chair, the Cosm, has reportedly “taken the design world by storm” since its launching. Celebrated for its sophisticated ergonomic design, the Cosm appears to be simplicity itself, yet the Studio says it took a decade of form-making, engineering and testing to achieve the final product.
According to Robert Reilly, regional manager for Herman Miller in South Africa: ‘The Cosm has already received numerous awards. This year, it received the Green Product Award and the Red Dot Best of the Best Product Design Award in the “Office Chairs” category ‘TIME magazine has named the Cosm as one of the 100 Best Inventions of 2019. There were a number of other inventions in the Awards that change the way we live, work, play and think about what’s possible.’
According to Reilly, nominations across a variety of categories were solicited by editors and correspondents across the globe and also online, with each contender scored for originality, effectiveness and influence. The prestigious list honours innovative thinking across disciplines.The Cosm was one of only three items recognised in the design category.
What makes the chair special? It is the world’s first chair with an automatic tilt, called an Auto-Harmonic mechanism, which is a ‘smart’ technology
Robert Reilly, Herman Miller.
Janine Stephens, journalist, gives the chair a test drive.
situated in the gearbox below the seat – the Cosm automatically adapts to the user’s body, movement and posture, which makes manual adjustment unnecessary.
‘This means that whoever sits in the chair will feel balanced and comfortable at all times – and this is also partly due to Intercept, the continuous suspension material that supports the user’s contours. The chair’s flexible frame allows for free upper body movement while ensuring the sitter keeps his or her feet on the ground. This is critical to maintaining ergonomics,’ concludes Reilly..
This chair should be of particular interest to the green building community, where an emphasis on ergonomics is a key element in seeking ratings under the Green Star Interiors category.
There was great interest in the samples of various of the company’s chairs at the media event, which were tested with great relish. Far beyond the budget of the humble reporter or editor, the chairs definitely join this editor’s wish list, given the amount of time that our profession spends sitting with eyes glued on the computer screen!
There is a local stockist, All Office, who co-hosted the event with Herman Miller.
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