Vale Nigel Hobbs

Nigel Hobbs was a passionate advocate for design and wellness in Australia for more than 25 years, which makes the recent news of his passing a sincere tragedy.

In the nineties, Nigel started his career in the design industry when he founded the commercial furniture company Bodyformz. Bodyformz (which went on to be called Chairbiz). Following this Nigel partnered with his wife Jo to cofound Sit Back and Relax, a national commercial furniture supplier with a focus on ergonomics and workplace wellbeing.

Through his work at Sit Back and Relax, Nigel’s passion for the fusion of design and workplace wellbeing really took hold. This led him to devise a series of wellness protocols and founding Welnis, a Sydney-based workplace consultancy that incorporates the very best in wellness products, programs and technologies. Nigel’s work with Welnis led onto more consulting and his passion continued to grow. He then became part of the Future Human Office Advisory Board, which focused on shaping workplace technologies to bring better health and wellbeing outcomes to employees through design and lobbying.

With a deep dedication to workplace wellness, Nigel spoke extensively, both in Australia and overseas, on how the effective infusion of wellbeing into workplace interiors would create greater health, happiness and productivity.

In addition to Nigel’s ongoing commitment to this cause, he was a much-loved husband and father to two teenage children. His enthusiasm and cheerful personality will be sadly missed by those who knew and worked with him.