The name Herman Miller springs to mind at the mere mention of task chair, performance seating and ergonomic seating. This is no surprise as the award-winning brand is renowned for its human-driven, ergonomic seating solutions.

When it comes to office chairs, or as Herman Miller likes to call it the performance seating collection, the Aeron, Embody, Sayl, Mirra 2, Lino, Verus and Setu chairs are highly coveted as they are designed for comfort – from 9-to-5 and beyond. In fact, all of the brand’s creations are backed by decades of research, experimentation and analysis.

One of Herman Miller’s most popular models to date is the Cosm chair created in collaboration with Berlin-based designers at Studio 7.5 – Carola Zwick, Roland Zwick and Burkhard Schmitz. Whether one is sitting in Cosm for a few minutes or a few hours, this performance chair is sure to provide instant gratification and ultimate comfort. So much so, Herman Miller’s latest research reveals that Cosm can help reduce fatigue and increase productivity.

The Cosm has always been designed to respond to the user’s movements. Its Auto-Harmonic Tilt mechanism automatically provides balanced recline, support and comfort, depending on the user’s body and posture – eliminating manual adjustments altogether. This has been a goal that Herman Miller and Studio 7.5 have worked towards for years.

“You should have a chair that allows you to change postures as easily as possible,” says Roland Zwick. “You can only do that with a chair that is correctly adjusted, so we wanted to build a chair that does that part for you.”

Related: Herman Miller champions ergonomic seating and human-driven design

Rightly so, as nothing feels worse than a stiff chair that restricts movement. By accounting for the sitter’s vertical force — which is always in flux — the gears within the tilt move the fulcrum along a leaf spring to automatically adjust the chair’s tension.

In support of this complex mechanism is a deceptively flexible and strong frame that appears almost non-existent, and the breathable Intercept suspension that eliminates the gap between the seat and back for a dynamic spinal support, no matter who sits on Cosm.

“One of the biggest challenges – or I should say, one of the biggest opportunities – was to determine how to attach the suspension in a way that made it blend into the frame as seamlessly as possible,” Schmitz says. The answer came in the form of small ‘teeth’ that allow the suspension material to clip into the chair’s frame while staying taut for even pressure distribution.

Studio 7.5 further enhanced Cosm with angled Leaf Arms that don’t get in the way of a desk and make resting the arms, specifically the elbows a comfortable experience. Thanks to the impeccable support, the Leaf Arms also make holding a phone or book natural and comfortable for the user.

To further cement the unity of design and the sculptural quality of the chair, Cosm is available in one hue from top to bottom – Mineral, Carbon, Glacier, Nightfall and Canyon. “The monochrome colouring dematerialises the object,” Schmitz says of the dipped-in colour concept. “The chair is made out of many different metals and plastics, but ultimately, it’s just one thing.”

Manufactured with utmost care and built with environmental implications in mind, the Cosm chair is built to last and comes with a 12-year warranty. Even after a century since its inception, Herman Miller does not rest on its laurels and continues to challenge the possibilities of furniture design, time and time again.

In Singapore, Herman Miller is available at Xtra.

Photos courtesy of Herman Miller

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