The Chair Men

摘要

It is a marriage of convenience. Six years ago, when Robert King met Niels Diffirient, King was struggling to lift Humanscale, a small maker of ergonomic products for the office, to the next level. He wanted a classy desk chair that would compete with the established master of back support, Herman Miller's Aeron model. Diffrient was a frustrated industrial designer with pioneering achievements, including the first chair whose height could be adjusted via a gas piston and spring, and a fold-up office table that replaced screws and plates with simple interlocking hinges. He had also led the group that designed the Princess phone for Ma Bell and the "pop-up" SX-70 camera for Polaroid. Diffrient, now 75, happened to have a crude prototype for a new office chair. Its seat and back, connected via a cantilever system, allowed the customer to get comfortable in any position without having to fiddle with any knobs or controls. "When I left the meeting, I knew we needed to have that chair," says King. Diffrient recognized an opportunity as well. "A fella like this didn't have a company the size of giants," he recalls. "But I could see in Bob an attitude that I could grow with."