In conventional office chair design, depth of seating and posture when sitting upright or leaning back are taken for granted. But after studying people's seated posture, this company determined that only about one in three people sits in the ideal position, with their lower back firmly supported. Their solution lies in the unprecedented mechanisms of this chair, which move the seat down and back while moving the lumbar support forward. (The manufacturer calls these mechanisms the passive slide seat, or PSS, and active lumbar support, or ALS). For a seat back material that flexes in response to these motions, the developers chose elastomer resin, with properties halfway between plastic and rubber. Because one's back is next to a mesh instead of a solid surface, users stay dry and comfortable even after sitting for extended periods. In appearance, the chair reflects Japanese aesthetics. Vertical stripes down the back of the chair, revealing what's behind it, are reminiscent of a lattice or Japanese shoji screen with rays of sunlight shining through.

A chair that adapts flexibly to users was long just a dream to me, but collaboration with an outstanding designer finally made it a reality. The correct seated posture recommended by manufacturers is completely at odds with how users actually sit. Thus, we took on the obvious but difficult task of creating a chair that conforms to the user's position. The idea eventually evolved into a user-friendly chair that coaxes people into a comfortable position without them being aware of it. I_believe that this approach also represents an avenue for future office chair development.

Over the past five years or so, many manufacturers have released a steady stream of similar chairs based on the Aeron chair-high-performance luxury office chairs built to exacting specifications. Finally, there is a chair designed with the meticulous care of the finest Japanese manufacturers. Sitting down at a meeting, users have no complaints about how comfortable the chair feels, but when it is time to stand up, they are given a helpful boost. What's more, the mesh material for this high-backed chair is incorporated in a web-like structure that makes the most of the material's inherent properties in an innovative way. In short, it is a Japanese chair showing exceptional care in all details of construction. And as such, the chair will make waves in a market flooded with imitations of chairs developed overseas. [Shinichi Sumikawa, A10 unit leader]