Our latest Design Challenge focuses on creating task-related furniture for freelancers in an ever-evolving and highly amorphous work landscape, an issue that is becoming even more relevant as freelancers begin adding up to more than a third of the workforce in the United States today. Who better to ask about how office environments and the nature of work has changed than designers working for a company specializing in this area for over 30 years?
Humanscale, a company specializing in office furniture since 1983, is well known for its ultra ergonomic and consumer-sensitive understanding of design. One of its most familiar pieces of furniture, the Freedom Chair by Niels Diffrient, was apparently a response to the iconic Aeron Chair. Diffrient realized that the Aeron Chair's levers and adjusters failed to recognize the average consumer's lack of knowledge surrounding ergonomics, so he strived to design a chair that automatically adjusted rather than requiring manual manipulation. The idea turned out to be a hit and his Freedom Chair continues to be one of Humanscale's top grossing products.