The Knoll Generation Chair is a piece of furniture uniquely qualified for this time in history. It's a work chair that embodies the concept of elastic design; design which molds itself to the user, and not vice versa. Materials should inform the chair and serve the user, and purposes should be multi-faceted and large in scale. The Knoll Generation Chair has embraced elastic design to meet those criteria. The Generation Chair was built to operate at a high level in your office, and in today's modern workplace that means being able to accommodate a variety of uses, tasks, postures, and seating styles.
The Generation Chair has to be elastic because it has to be flexible; like the modern worker, and the modern work environment, it must be a multi-task, highly flexible and adaptable piece of furniture. With those goals in mind, Knoll and the fine designers working there have made sure that the Generation Chair fulfills and exceeds every requirement and expectation. There are several categories in which chairs, especially office chairs, are measured. Read more about the Generation Chair in the workplace. Comfort is usually rated the most important quality in an office chair by worker. Of course, there is also support, which is vitally important to your physical well-being and your mental peace at work. There is ergonomics; does the chair you're sitting in help you do your job more efficiently? Does it make you life at work easier, or harder? Can it help you to be more productive? There is style; does the chair you use when you're at work give you a lift? Is it attractive? Does it complement or improve the aesthetic of your office, or does it detract from it?
The Generation Chair has the right answers to these and to many more like-minded questions. It's extremely comfortable, first of all, with it's innovative shape and design contributing to a more giving, more ergonomically correct chair. When you sit in the chair, it not only gives you a soft landing, it keeps you supported in all the right spots. Another important aspect of comfort is freedom of movement, and no chair on earth is more amenable to that than the Generation Chair. Sit forwards, sit backwards, sit sideways; sit however you want, and the Generation Chair will accommodate you and make you feel comfortable.
In terms of support, the chair is an excellent choice. The curved back takes pressure off of your lumbar region and lower back, and gives your neck, shoulders, spine and upper back a less stressful sitting experience.
Ergonomically, the chair is a beauty. Not only does the adaptability in sitting style help in terms of comfort and freedom of movement, it makes you more productive. By keeping you less occupied by how uncomfortable you are, or how restricted, the freedom of the Generation Chair gives you the peace of mind to be focused, alert, and productive. The chair increases your efficiency by increasing your freedom. Neat trick.
As far as style goes, the Knoll Generation Chair is really without parallel. The peculiar, but refreshing and revolutionary, design is a hallmark of the Knoll legacy. It's different and modern and challenging in some ways, but it's also beautiful and right at home in a museum. You won't find a more energetic and stylish chair than the Generation anywhere, and Knoll is proud to have made one more entry into their long record of making beautiful furniture.
The Knoll Generation Chair was created for outside-the-box offices, so it had to have outside-the-box designers and thinkers to build it. The first idea in this vein was to disdain the traditional concept of single orientation seating. Knoll believed the worker should have the option of how to sit, and that every option should be comfortable and useful in the modern workplace. The Knoll Generation Chair is designed for nearly every imaginable posture and position. It can be sat in side-saddle, legs underneath the armrests; The Generation Chair accommodates reverse sitting, where the user sits backwards, chest resting against the back of the chair. The angled back of the Generation Chair allows for several postures to be held comfortably (and safely) for long stretches of time. The Generation Chair was built to serve the user, and the user should be able to choose how he or she sits. It's that simple. It's the Generation Chair, by Knoll.
Generation's Features at a Glance
Flex Back Net Moves in unison with the user. The Flex Back is made of a high performance elastomer material that is lightweight and soft to the touch, yet extremely durable and won't sag over time. The frameless structure doesn't restrict lateral movement while sitting.
Figure 8 Back Unique design enables side-to-side flexing and provides optimal support for the lumbar and shoulder areas.
Flex Top Enhances your ranges of movement perhaps more than any other feature- the flex top folds over the top edge of the back, providing a comfortable armrest for sitting sideways or backwards.
Flex Seat Malleable front seat edge flexes 270 degrees to support user's legs without restricting circulation. Seat perimeter is void of imposing levers or rigid frames- enabling the user to utilize the whole seat. Also includes 3" seat depth adjustment.
Continuous Lumbar Back support supplied by the Flex Back extends through Generation's arms. The shape and alignment of the cantilever arms provide lumbar support if you're sitting frontwards, sideways or backwards, or any point in-between.
Generation Chair Product Reviews
Independently-Commissioned Review An unbiased review of the Generation Chair using design, style, performance, ergonomics, and environmental sustainability as criteria.
Smart Furniture Staff Review Read what Mark Rico of Smart Furniture has to say about the Generation Chair. Amusing pictures included.
Knoll is confident that the Generation Chair is top notch in terms of ergonomics, comfort and workplace adaptability. But they don't expect you to take their word for it. When they built the Generation Chair, Knoll sought the services of Dr. Tim Springer, one of the most notable and respected ergonomics specialists in the country. Dr. Springer has worked with hundreds of companies over a 30 year career, seeking always to improve their environments, and therefore improve the mood, productivity and efficiency of their workers. Dr. Springer's unbiased opinion on the ergonomic value of the Knoll Generation Chair was extremely important to Knoll in terms of judging the success of their product. So what did he find?
Dr. Springer believes that a chair should fulfill (and be rated on) seven specific criteria, and it was these criteria on which he judged the Knoll Generation Chair. Here are his questions, and findings:
1. Does the Generation Chair support the user's body? Yes. Dr. Springer took special note of the high range and quality of adjustments available to each user, including seat height, tilt, and arm rest adjustability. Furthermore, the Generation Chair features superior lumbar support, easing stress and pressure on the back. He also praised the Generation Chair's "dynamic response," or it's ability to flex and contour to specific users on contact.
2. Does the Generation Chair support the full range of activity the user performs on a daily basis? Yes, and more. The Generation Chair is designed to incorporate a huge range of activities and seating styles suited to getting them done. In this, it goes far beyond the efforts of most office chairs, and measurable improves productivity and the quality of a working day. Dr. Springer was impressed by the adaptability and high functionality of the chair, and without daring design, it wouldn't have rated so highly.
3. Does the Generation Chair promote movement? Yes, for many of the same reasons described above. The Generation Chair promotes movement by promoting a range of seating options, postures, and positions. The Generation Chair is the standard-bearer for a highly flexible and functional office chair. It can go anywhere, and help you do anything, in any position you like.
4. Does the Generation Chair incorporate cognitive ergonomics? The ergonomics movement describes the phenomenon of peri-personal space, or the sphere of space within the sight and proximity of the average worker. Good chairs, ergonomists say, make it easy for a person to relater their brain activity (what they can see and react to) with their physical activity and work. The Generation Chair, according to Dr. Springer, does just his, and at a very high level. The Generation Chair makes it easy to be the master of your particular domain.
5. Does the Generation Chair support performance? Yes, by increasing movement and improving cognitive ergonomic function. The Generation Chair is committed to the success of the office worker, and it does this by providing support physically and mentally. You'll work better sitting in a Knoll Generation Chair.
6. Is the Generation Chair easy to use? Incredibly. The only possible mental hassles are the adjustments you can choose to make, but all of those are simple and clearly marked and delineated. With the Generation Chair, you simply sit down and get to work.
7. Does the Generation Chair do no harm? Quite the opposite, in fact. Not only does the Generation Chair outperform every other office chair in terms of productivity, comfort, and movement, it is also a very sustainable and responsible chair. Hailed by many environmental organizations, and held to a very high standard by Knoll, a deeply conscientious company, the Generation Chair is a product you can feel good about buying, good about using, and good about passing on.
When Knoll set out to create the Generation Chair, they started by asking critical, Socratic questions. Does the world really need another chair? What should a chair offer to its users? What type of chair is most important for the modern world? What type of chair can we make that would do the most good? The answers to these questions were answered in the Knoll Generation Chair.
Does the world need another chair? While it's true that there thousands of office chairs out there, the Knoll Generation Chair stands head and shoulders above the rest. It is more comfortable with less material, more advanced with less waste and increased sustainability. The Generation Chair is advanced engineering and advanced design wrapped in a singular, unique, and winning package. Moreover, the Generation Chair, unlike nearly every other office chair, does not adversely affect the environment. The materials in the Generation Chair are mostly post-consumer recycled content. Almost every part of the Generation Chair is recyclable itself, and the chair is easy to disassemble and dispose of in proper and environmentally safe ways. The packaging the Knoll Generation Chair comes in is recyclable and reusable. Several environmental organizations have lauded the sustainability of the chair, and it can even help qualify business for LEED certification. All in all, the Generation Chair offers unsurpassed comfort, adaptability, style, pedigree, and responsibility. It is one of the premiere office chairs in the world, and has set a very high bar for the next decade. No, the world did not need just another office chair. The world needed the Knoll Generation Chair.
What should a chair offer its users? Comfort. Sustainability. Durability. Functionality. These are the hallmarks of a quality office chair, and they are the four greatest strengths possessed by the Knoll Generation Chair. The designers at Formway Design set out to construct the greatest office chair around; something that would answer every stated need, as a well as a few no one had thought of before. To accomplish this goal they had to start with the basics of comfort and function. The Knoll Generation Chair makes use of the latest finding in ergonomic research and material manipulation to produce a seat and seat back that provide sumptuous comfort and plenty of back and lumbar support. Moreover, the designers at Formway pioneered the concept of elastic design, which turned the Generation Chair into a kind of Swiss Army Knife of office furniture. More on that later.
The Generation Chair is, as discussed above, one of the most responsible and sustainable chairs on the market. The user who takes home a Generation Chair can feel secure in the knowledge that they're contributing to the continued health of the planet, and contributing to a more responsible and sustainable corporation, Knoll furniture. Knoll is the maker and dealer of some of the most highly respected furniture in world history. They only work with the best, and they only produce and sell the best. That means, among other things, durability. Knoll insists on top-flight materials in their furniture, as well as air-tight master craftsmanship in putting it together. You can rest assured that a piece of furniture from Knoll was built to last, and that if you so choose, you'll be passing it down to future generations. That's what Knoll furniture is all about.
Functionality is another important basic aspect of office chair design. Your chair must perform; it must help you do your job. The Knoll Generation Chair succeeds here with flying colors, offering a host of ergonomic improvements that cut down on discomfort and time away from the desk, as well as design solutions that keep you better focused. The lumbar support and comfort of the chair have even been shown to actually be health positive! Buying a Knoll Generation Chair is buying productivity as well as fine craftsmanship and sustainability.
What type of chair is most important for the modern world? The primary function of an office chair is to keep the user comfortable for long periods of sitting and working. The Knoll Generation Chair tackled this goal in several ways. To begin with, the materials of the chair and the ergonomic, highly researched contours make it comfortable. The materials are elastic, like the design, and they flex and shape to support and cradle the body. But those are functions that many modern, advanced office chairs already have. What makes the Knoll Generation Chair different is its unique seating goals. The Generation Chair was designed to be sat in in more than one way. Traditionally, chair users sit looking forward, their backs against the backrest of the chair, their posture erect. In the Generation Chair, that's only the first option. Users can sit comfortable side saddle, facing backwards, leaning every which way, slouching, and in practically any posture. The Knoll Generation Chair was designed that way, to be as flexible and adaptable as the modern worker, and to allow the user a mode of control and a hand in the final design and engineering of the their chair. The Generation Chair is cooperative and flexible, comfortable and extremely durable. Those just happen to be the very things most important in a modern office chair. The Knoll Generation Chair is the office chair for this time and place.
What type of chair can we make to do the most good? The Knoll Generation Chair is, finally, the answer to this question. A chair that would do the most good is a chair that comforts and supports, increases health and productivity, is healthy and sustainable for the environment, blazes new ground in the furniture design and engineering world, is ergonomically sound, and would fit with incredible specificity every individual owner. The Generation Chair is this chair. Comfortable, supportive of your back and lumbar regions, and designed to be customized and finished by you, the user. Knoll set some lofty goals in creating the Generation Chair, and they have met and exceeded every one. Don't miss out on the chair of the decade. Get the Generation Chair today.
The Knoll Generation Chair was the product of many minds, the work of many hands, but the chief designers and engineers were the members of Formway Design, a furniture building company based in New Zealand. The Generation Chair was subject to rigorous testing, re-testing, refinement, and a multitude of innovations and outside-the-box thinking. The result has been something everyone involved in its creation can be very proud of; the Generation Chair is at the top of the class in terms of design, mission, and functionality.
Formway Design has been plying their trade for more than half a century, since 1956, and there are few design firms around the world who have accrued the respect and admiration of this pioneering company. The Knoll Generation Chair is only the latest in a long line of accomplishments, all brought about through non-traditional work strategies and brilliant design.
Formway Design broke the mold in a big way in 1979, when they radically, and systematically, changed the company's way of doing things. They began to insist on group participation, group work, and group responsibility for all of their projects and output. The Knoll Generation Chair is one of the latest creations to come out of the Formway process, and the strength of the chair is proof positive that the system works. Formway is committed to the kind of group thinking, particapatory thinking, that results in the most flexible, multi-faceted, useful and well-planned furniture possible. The Knoll Generation Chair certainly fits that bill; it is a collection of ideas seamlessly integrated into a cohesive and lovely whole.
It was the paradox of Formway design--group thinking that isn't groupthink--that brought to fruition the exciting and groundbreaking design (and, even, fun) of the Generation Chair. The user of the Generation Chair is not limited to the forward-facing, vertical posture that is expected in office chairs. The Generation Chair was designed to be sat in in nearly every possible variation. You want to sit in the Generation Chair backwards? Go ahead, Formway Design made sure the armrests were positioned not to be in your way, and the middle of the back of the chair was angled to make that position comfortable and sustainable. You want to sit side sadle? Formway Design made the Generation Chair to fit this unique sitting style as well. And, of course, if you want to sit in a traditional posture, the Generation Chair is there to satisfy that need as well. There isn't any way to improperly use the Generation Chair, because it was designed for deployment in any number of non-traditional ways; in a way, it was designed so that one more designer could apply the finishing touch, and that designer is the user. Owning the Generation Chair is owning part of the patent, as Formway Design has allowed you to be one of the designers and engineers.
Knoll has worked with Formway Design in the past, for the excellent Life Chair. It's a partnership founded on excellence, innovation, and style. The Knoll Generation Chair, by Forway Design. Get one today.
About the Manufacturer
Founded in 1938, Knoll has nurtured many of the most inspiring and iconic furniture designs of the last century. With an extensive collection of modern classic furniture for the home as well as cutting-edge office furniture with a focus on functionality as well as aesthetics, Knoll is at the forefront of how furniture interacts with us and affects us in our daily lives.
Materials: Flex Back is made of high performance elastomer; plastic base version is made of 39 percent recyclable content; aluminum base version is made of 54 percent recyclable content
Dimensions: Overall Height: 39.25" to 44.5" Overall Width: 21" (armless) or 28.5" (with arms) Overall Depth: 26.75" Seat Height: 17.25" to 22.5" Seat Depth: 15.75" to 18.75" (armless) or 15.74" to 18.25" (with arms) Seat Width: 21"
With the Generation Chair, Knoll didn't confine themselves to making a comfortable, adaptable, premium office chair. They also wanted to contribute to the big picture. To further this end, they made the Generation Chair one of the greenest, most sustainable and environmentally conscious chairs on the market. Knoll made sure the Generation Chair adhered to their rigorous and industry-leading Design for the Environment Guidelines, which meant designing for durability, recycling, renewable materials, clean manufacturing, and low impact, low emissions facilities. The Knoll manufacturing plant run in Greenville Pennsylvania has been thoroughly tested and re-tested for air quality, low-emissions standards, and clean technology, and is an OSHA VPP site.
The Generation Chair by Knoll holds a Sustainable Platinum rating from SMART Consensus Sustainable Product Standards, has been LCA tested, and is GREENGUARD indoor air quality certified. There is no chair on the market that can beat the Generation Chair for conscientiousness, nor for comfort, quality, and style. Get green, get comfortable, get adaptable and stylish; buy the Knoll Generation Chair today, and make your office as flexible and efficient as you are.
The Knoll Generation Chair was the product of many minds, the work of many hands, but the chief designers and engineers were the members of Formway Design, a furniture building company based in New Zealand. The Generation Chair was subject to rigorous testing, re-testing, refinement, and a multitude of innovations and outside-the-box thinking. The result has been something everyone involved in its creation can be very proud of; the Generation Chair is at the top of the class in terms of design, mission, and functionality.
Materials:
With the Generation Chair, Knoll didn't confine themselves to making a comfortable, adaptable, premium office chair. They also wanted to contribute to the big picture. To further this end, they made the Generation Chair one of the greenest, most sustainable and environmentally conscious chairs on the market. Knoll made sure the Generation Chair adhered to their rigorous and industry-leading Design for the Environment Guidelines, which meant designing for durability, recycling, renewable materials, clean manufacturing, and low impact, low emissions facilities. The Knoll manufacturing plant run in Greenville Pennsylvania has been thoroughly tested and re-tested for air quality, low-emissions standards, and clean technology, and is an OSHA VPP site. 
