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Herman Miller Envelop Desk designed by Bill Stumpf and Jeff Weber
At a Glance: The Envelop Desk is the latest brainchild of Jeff Weber, the design partner of the late Bill Stumpf. Combined, they've designed some of the most popular products like the Caper, Aeron and the Envelop Desk's best match, Embody. The whole concept of the stationary desk is thrown out the window, with the Envelop Desk tabletop's range of movement.
What's To Like: The way Envelop encourages movement is great for fidgeters, and people who generally work long hours in front of a computer screen and don't want to feel like a statue at the end of the day. Letting you take advantage of the benefits of today's ergonomic task chairs, especially that of the Embody Chair, the Envelop Desk lets you easily position both your posture and computer peripherals for a more comfortable and health-positive work environment.
What's Not To Like: For those who absolutely have to have everything on their desktop, from unsorted papers and printers to the kitchen sink, Envelop may not the best fit. If you're looking for mansion-like space in a studio-apartment-sized package, Envelop is not for you.
The Bottom Line: With pedigree backed by Herman Herman Miller and ergonomic features not found in any other desks, Envelop is a great fit for those who want the most comfort and features from their entire workspace, not just their chair.
If you're looking for monitor arms for the Envelop Desk, check out the single and dual monitor arms for the total desk package.
It's called Envelop because the sliding, flexible support surface - the "infield" - envelops you as you work. The infield slides forward seven inches and pivots down seven degrees to provide continuous flexible support for your forearms and wrists. Your forearms rest comfortably on the soft, resilient infield, reducing pressure on them and eliminating awkward wrist positions. Designed to be used with an ergonomic chair that features a synchronous tilt, Envelop provides ergonomic support through a wide range of seated postures - whatever is most comfortable for you.
Envelop has been designed to fit in wherever you need it to be - as a freestanding desk at home or in an office, or within a systems environment. Its clean, trim aesthetic works harmoniously into any design. The "body pocket" size was designed on the basis of anthropomorphic data so that it fits from the fifth to 98th percentile of women and men.
The Envelop Desk by Jeff Weber is a groundbreaking new creation from the world of Herman Miller home and office furniture. This desk is the solution to an age old problem - how to build a better desk.
To solve the problem, Weber had to know not only what a modern desk was, but what it could be - and therefore, what has wrong with the regular desk.
In general, what was wrong was that little to no attention was ever paid (in desk design) to the growing and very serious field of ergonomics. Jeff Weber learned the importance of ergonomics while a partner with the late Bill Stumpf, the man who brought forth the Aeron and Embody Chairs. Those chairs are legendary today for their ability to make the user comfortable at first, but also to keep them comfortable for 8, 10, and 12 hour workdays where they hardly ever move from the computer, the desk, and the workstation. Since they debuted, designers and furniture companies have pulled out most of the stops, and made everything from ergonomic chairs to ergonomic footrests, mouse pads, keyboards, computers, etc. But the one thing they never really messed with was the classic form of the average desk - a rectangle, set up a certain distance from the floor, with drawers if necessary. And that describes pretty much every desk you'll see in the modern workplace. Until now.
Now there's a desk that moves. The Envelop Desk is one of the first ergonomic desks ever built, the difference is something you feel immediately and permanently. No longer will you have an uncomfortable distance between you and the things on your desk (especially your computer). No longer will you desk be something you work on, rather than something you work with. No longer will your desk be hard and unforgiving to your joints, back, eyes, and skin. This is a new kind of desk for the modern office, and it's here to make you more productive, more focused, and more healthy than ever before.
The whole top of the Envelop Desk moves. It slides towards and away from you, depending on what you want. And that means the things that are actually on the desk move too. Your computer, your files, your shelves, your pencils and pens - anything that you want to bring within easy arms reach is available to you using this desk. Moreover, the desk is angled at the edge so that when you bring it closer, you don't have to re-adjust your arms and body to get a better view of the desk, and especially of the computer. This is an ergonomic advancement that's very important to the success of the desk. You won't have to strain, bend, slouch, crane or re-focus your eyes over and over when using this piece of furniture. The brilliant design of the moving top makes all of that unnecessary.
Making things easy on your neck and spine isn't the only benefit you'll receive from the form of the desk. There is also a bit of a hollow cut into the front edge, a shallow inward curve, and it is into this curve that your body will go when you bring the desk nearer to you. That means no more alienation from your desk and the things that are on it. With this curve, you'll be able to comfortable and correctly sit as near to the desk as possible, making practically everything easier. And it will also cut down plenty on the irritation of bumping against the edge of your current desk.
The Envelop Desk is so-named for just this reason. It surrounds you with the things you need, and makes you comfortable - it's like an embrace of productivity and comfort!
Bringing everything closer makes working easier. But that's not to say that the desk is constricting or too close - it's still basically in the general shape of a rectangular table. It moves and extends and there are contours, but the basic shape remains. It's easy to push away from the desk whenever you need to - or to push the desk itself away from you. It's there when you want or need it, and not when you don't.
Jeff Weber has created a significant new piece of furniture for Herman Miller. Now, in addition to the promises of ergonomic comfort and support offered by their chairs, they can offer you the same in your desk. Herman Miller now has the individual pieces, the ingredients, for a fully functioning ergonomic office unit. And that's thanks to the still-growing and pervasive influence of Bill Stumpf and Jeff Weber, creators of the Embody Chair, the Aeron Chair, and now the Envelop Desk.
As they worked to develop the Embody chair, Jeff Weber and Bill Stumpf began to rethink the whole concept of a desk. Why did it have to just sit there? Why did computer users have to manually move their laptops, keyboards, pointing devices, and monitors around, trying to maintain the right position and angle? Why couldn't a desk do that?
Envelop became Jeff's project, and he was responsible for most of the work that produced the final product. It represents both a great leap forward in ergonomic design and a logical continuation of Bill's and Jeff's ideas about the body in work postures that had been guiding them for years.
Embody was created by Jeff Weber and the late Bill Stumpf. Stumpf began working with Herman Miller in 1970 and was instrumental in designing the Ergon, Equa, and Aeron Chairs. Arguably the most knowledgeable designer in the world in the field of ergonomic seating, Stumpf came to Herman Miller with partner Jeff Weber with the goal of creating a chair that could "Go beyond just minimizing the negative effects of sitting... that positively impacts your life so you can work and live better." Sadly, Stumpf passed away in 2006. Collaborating with over 30 professionals at Herman Miller, including physicians and PhDs in the fields of biomechanics, physical therapy, and ergonomics, Jeff Weber carried on with Stumpf's vision. His team ultimately succeeded in creating the world's first health-positive office chair.
The Envelop Desk comes from the mind of Jeff Weber, one of the most talented and prodigious designers Herman Miller works with today. Weber was the late Bill Stumpf's design partner on a range of furniture, including the Caper Chair and the world-famous Embody Chair. He learned a lot from Stumpf about ergonomics, and about making each part of each design piece have both an aesthetic and a practical purpose. The Envelop Desk is one of Weber's most recent solo designs, and it combines his own fresh and unique take on how a desk should look and feel with the expertise and knowledge he acquired earlier with the great Bill Stumpf.
Weber looks at the modern workplace and sees what could be, rather than what is. He sees the standard desk, limited and unmoving, and envisions a living work partner, something that's going to able to mold itself to each individual user in a specific and productivity enhancing way. He see the standard desk top, solid and set, and he envisions a moving, flexible work surface that can shift and change to better fit the needs of the person, the office, or the work. He sees the computer monitors that adorn practically ever desk in the country these days, and rather than a fixed system that can cause neck problems and carpel tunnel, he sees an easy to move, human centered solution that brings cutting edge ergonomics and engineering to bear on a problem that has been unsolved for decades.
Weber sees the ordinary desk, limiting and unchanged for decades, and he envisions the Envelop. With the help of the extraordinary craftsmen and manufacturing facilities at Herman Miller, he creates it as well. And now, you can use it.
The name of the desk has a lot to say about what it can be, what its goals are, and who its designer is. Envelop (not envelope) makes the user think of an embrace, or a bounding force. The Envelop Desk is designed to do just that, in the most useful and personal way. The edge of the desk has a curving semi-circle cut out of the middle, which makes it easier to get closer to your desk without ramming your stomach, sides or elbows against the front of it. The material of the edge is sturdy, with great traction (meaning things can be easily stored there without falling off or moving around). Most important of all, this edge can actually move to accommodate your body, your needs, and your standards of productivity. It envelops you when you move closer to it or bring it closer to you, and the closeness of the desk and the materials makes working easier, more convenient, and in every way faster and more productive. The desk is not limiting in any way - you can easily push away from it or push it away from you, and though there is a small curve in the center of the desk, the basic form is still that of a rectangle (meaning you aren't hemmed in).
Jeff Weber and Bill Stumpf were always interested, first and foremost, in making sitting down and working as easy and healthy as possible. When they first began their work many people and companies were not even aware that the chairs they were using and the long stretches of sitting their workers endured were unhealthy in any way. But the ergonomics movement, led by furniture designers like Weber and Stumpf, showed the way toward a healthier, more productive and altogether happier worker and workplace.
A desk that moves with you, that anticipates your needs and makes things easier or your back, eyes, neck and lower body, is a desk that's well worth having. Jeff Weber has produced such a desk.
And it's not just ergonomics that Weber cares about. The Envelop Desk is a beautiful piece of furniture, with a full complement of the classic and modern styling that Herman Miller is known for. This is a desk that's going to make you feel good literally, and make you look good as well. Don't pass it up. Jeff Weber's partnership with Herman Miller is ongoing - we can't wait to see what he comes up with next!
Herman Miller is an industry leader in the integration of cutting edge technology to furniture and other household items to make everyday life more comfortable, convenient, and stylish. Herman Miller stands out at the forefront of such fields as ergonomic technologies, environmentally friendly manufacturing processes, and customizable furniture items. Included in Herman Miller's celebrated office furniture selection is the iconic Aeron Chair and the groundbreaking Embody Chair.
In addition to producing some of the most outstanding office furniture in the world, Herman Miller has also taken on the responsibility of manufacturing some of the most celebrated furniture designs by some of the world's most famous designs. These "modern classics" include works by Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, and Isamu Noguchi. Herman Miller celebrates these famous mid-century designers' works through its extraordinarily precise manufacturing techniques and industry-leading green production processes.
Herman Miller is a global company with operations, sales offices, dealers, and licensees in more than 40 countries in North America, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, serving customers virtually anywhere in the world. Herman Miller is headquartered in Zeeland, Michigan, while manufacturing facilities are located in the U.S., China, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
Materials: Steel legs. Worksurface features an "infield" section with cutout, made of black urethane, and a rear "outfield" section made of a laminate with clear plywood edges or a veneer surface with stained plywood edges.
Measurements: Height with Glides: 25.5" to 31.5" h Height with Casters: 27.5" to 32.5" h Overall Width: 45" Overall Depth: 30.75" (unextended worksurface) up to 37" (fully extended worksurface)
Envelop is comprised of 32-percent recycled materials. This figure breaks down to 18-percent post-consumer and 14-percent pre-consumer recycled content. Envelop is up to 53-percent recyclable at the end of its useful life.
Every inch of the Envelop Desk was crafted with two purposes. The first was to be beautiful, and the second was to be useful and practical. The desk is a complete success measured against those goals. It is at once an elegant, modern workspace and a practical, straightforward surface for writing, computing, and working. It represents an innovative new look in desk design, with a sliding surface that surprises and delights. But that same sliding surface is exactingly designed to be ergonomic, comfortable, and healthful. Practicality and aesthetic innovation - hand in hand when it comes to the Herman Miller Envelop Desk.
Bill Stumpf, the designer of the Aeron Chair and the Embody Chair, was a mentor for Jeff Weber, who designed the Envelop. And the most important lesson Weber learned was never to be self indulgent - never to make something that didn't serve a real purpose beyond simple attractiveness. Every part of a piece of furniture, every material and every feature, should serve the user and serve the purpose of the piece. Useless aesthetic fiddling has no place on a piece of furniture designed by Bill Stumpf or Jeff Weber. And you can see that design strategy clearly in the finished product of the Envelop Desk.
The Envelop Desk was made with the relatively new technology of ergonomics in mind. Ergonomics is a field concerned with how to make common working situations easier, faster, more comfortable, and more productive. From redesigning cockpits to re-imagining the traditional desk, the proponents of ergonomics have made the process of sitting down and working a special focus of their attention. And the Envelop Desk is one of the very first desks made in America to take the field as seriously as chair makers do. It's the first major ergonomic desk.
So what makes the design so ergonomic? What makes it so different from the standard modern work desk?
The most important feature on the Envelop Desk is the moving, dynamic top. The top of the desk is as free to move and adjust as the office chair you sit in, free to move and adjust the same way your arms, legs, posture, and eyes do over and over during a long day at the office. Instead of fighting you, or making you confirm to a set and stolid position like most desks, the Envelop moves with you. The dividends are paid in comfort, increased productivity and efficiency, and a much more healthy day at the office. Your eyes, arms, back, and shoulders will all feel the difference sitting behind an adjustable, ergonomic desk can make when you're working 8, 10 and 12 hour days.
So how does the desk move? How does it stay with you? The desk top that Jeff Weber built is truly remarkable, and truly one of a kind. The front edge of the desk is made of a different material than the back edge. It's more flexible and also more "sticky," meaning materials won?t slip and slide across the surface. While the entire plane of the desk can be adjusted, this is the part of the desk that is the most important to getting the full ergonomic benefits that the Envelop has to offer. Along with the rest of the desk, it slide back and forth on runner underneath the surface. But unlike the rest of the desk, it adjusts even further, and even anticipates your movements and your needs.
The front part of the desk flexes in response to pressure. When you place your arms on it, even on the edge, you are much less likely to feel uncomfortable or lose circulation, which is a major problem with most modern desks. If you spend large parts of your day in front of a computer, typing out emails or doing any other keyboard-centric activity, then you know exactly how big of a problem that is. It can cut into your productivity in a big way, not to mention the long term health of the nerves and muscles in your arms and hands.
With the Envelop Desk from Jeff Weber and Herman Miller, you'll never have to worry about your screen or your keyboard being too far away. And when you adjust your body or your posture, as all workers do many times during the day, you'll never have to also adjust the computer you're using, adding annoyance and wasted time to your day. With the sliding, bending, flexible Envelop Desk, the keyboard and the screen (or whatever you place on the desk to work) can move with you. Up, down, back and forth - that's how you make an ergonomic desk.
Another way to make an ergonomic desk is by cutting a contoured section out of the front of the desk, leaving room for the body that sits at the desk. This curved section of the desk not only gives your body space, it allows you to bring the working materials closer to your hands and eyes. More freedom for your torso, while at the same time your work materials are literally closer to hand. You won't have to strain your eyes (a serious health risk for people who spend long hours at work looking at screens and typing), your neck, or any other part of your body. You'll just be comfortable, healthy, and more productive. And that's the essence of ergonomics.
Of course, while ergonomics is just as important a part of the design as anything else, aesthetic concerns are more than present. This is simply a gorgeous piece of modern furniture, and would be desirable even if it weren't the technological and ergonomic powerhouse that it is. The elegant form of the desk is no frills, but contains all the classic styling that Herman Miller is famous for. The legs are thin and light, and the surface of the desk is two tone, with plenty of choices as to the color and finish of the desk top.
Owning this piece of furniture will be a welcome relief to your body and mind, as well as your sense of style. It's one of the crowning achievements in Jeff Weber's outstanding career, and maybe the finest ergonomic desk anywhere in America.
