The Design of Steelcase's Leap Chair

Winner of the Most Innovative Design Award from NeoCon, the Steelcase Leap Chair was designed for the individual. It was one of the very first office chair that was built not only to be one-size fits all, but to be, in a way, multi-sized. In other words, not just to accommodate all users, but to actually fit and serve all users.

This would mean a whole new way of looking at the design of the office chair; comfort would still come first, but with a major corollary; that the comfort rating of a chair had to be tied inextricably to the flexible nature of said equipment. This is a new paradigm in chair design; that usability and flexibility (read: advanced engineering and creative design) would go hand in hand with simple comfort and style. This new and groundbreaking product, the Leap Chair, would have to go through a whole series of hoops and challenges before it could be unveiled.

Steelcase, the global furniture maker that commissioned the Leap Chair, got right on it by organizing a thorough, intense period of scientific testing and observation. This included extensive interviews of chair users as well as far-reaching consultation with some of the best and most forward thinking minds in the furniture industry. The result of all this research and hard work was the Leap Chair, one of the best office chair ever released in the United States. So what did the people at Steelcase do to get their chair just right?

Before Steelcase began designing the Leap Chair, their team of experts decided to actually study the human body and observe how we move. Not a novel idea, but an idea they carried out with the newest and best technologies and researchers. Their finding led to a treasure trove of ergonomic and physiological data applicable to offices, businesses and workers the world over.

The Leap Chair is the careful and exacting response to the need for better furniture to support the increasingly sedentary and at the same time dynamic workforce. The innovations, design solutions, and ideas that were generated over the course of the study have been instrumental in shaping the way furniture will be made in the future.

However, there were a few main conclusions that were reached which informed the Leap Chair the most strongly. After studying over 700 people to see how they moved throughout the day, the Steelcase scientists came to four conclusions that serve as the basis for the Leap Chair's design.

• The spine doesn't make one single motion. The upper back and lower back are moving in two different directions as we recline or shift in our chairs.
• Every person has a unique and individual spine movement. Steelcase Leap is designed to adapt to each individual person's movement.
• The upper back and lower back need varying types of support.
• When a person reclines in their chair, the distance between the person and their desk increases. The Leap Chair should allow you to recline without taking you further away from your work.

The result of this four-year research was a chair designed with advanced seating technology. The Steelcase Leap is the first chair that contours to your spine and mimics your movements to provide the best support for your upper and lower back. As you move, the Leap moves with you, changing shape to ensure extraordinary comfort.

This technology and design make the Leap Chair one of the smartest chairs on the market. The Leap senses how you're moving, and adjusts to move with you. It's no wonder the Leap won NeoCon's Editor's Choice Award. In fact, so many people are choosing the Leap Chair that Steelcase has begun partnering with other industries to one day bring this same technology and design out of the office and into cars and airplanes. Choose the smart chair. Buy Leap today.