By Hamza Shaban and Lyndon French | Jun 18, 2023
Corporate America’s pivot to hybrid work schedules created a new market of buyers looking to deck out their home offices and seek comfort and flexibility — both professionally and physically. Folding Office Desk With Wheel
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
Herman Miller, an office and home furniture company, saw a $201 million increase in retail sales volume in 2021, due in part to pandemic purchases of the company’s chairs, which Consumer Reports’ rates among the best office chairs.
The company’s 1994 Aeron chair was even placed in the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection.
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An Aeron Chair in 2023 at Herman Miller offices in Holland, Mich.
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
Before these chairs can be put to work, they are put through a set of trials at the company’s North American test lab in Holland, Mich. The lab runs about 12,000 tests per year, putting roughly 2,000 chairs through their paces.
Here’s a look at how Herman Miller has tested their chairs for the last 70 years.
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Of all the forces chairs must withstand, the most straightforward comes from behind.
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
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The drop impact test simulates a person falling back into the chair. The company has conducted similar tests dating back to the 1950s.
An archival image of drop testing.
A hydraulic arm positioned directly above a chair’s cushion punches downward, shoving a 125-pound weighted bag into the seat.
An Eames Lounge chair is tested.
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
Industry standard calls for 100,000 cycles of drops from 1.4 inches high, but Herman Miller said it increases the height of the weight drop significantly, which can double or even triple the impact of the bag.
The number of test cycles conducted would allow a chair’s owner to plop down every day for a theoretical 273 years.
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
Arm rests aren’t just for resting. They are for pushing, too.
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
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People use armrests to lift themselves up into a standing position, placing weight and torque on the arm pads. The dual arm durability test simulates this uneven push.
Machines activate the left and right arms separately, applying varying pressure of up to 90 pounds of force through a metal plate that pushes down on the chair arms.
A chair is put through the dual arm durability test.
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
To pass the test, the arms must be fully functional and structurally sound after 60,000 cycles on each arm — equivalent to a person pushing off the chair’s arms to stand 10 times a day, five times a week, for more than two decades.
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
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The backrest durability test simulates the stress and motion of twisting and leaning.
Chairs are put through 1 million cycles of reclining, each exerting 75 pounds to 100 pounds of force. The process can take about six weeks of continuous testing.
Seat weights at the lab.
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
For decades, the test has relied on robotics to simulate a lifetime of stress on the chairs.
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
An archival image of backrest testing.
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The swivel test, calls for 60,000 spins in each direction, to simulate all the swivels that an office chair might be asked to do.
Swivel chairs at Herman Miller's offices.
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
The swivel chair has spun people around since at least the 18th century. Thomas Jefferson used a version of one while preparing the Declaration of Independence.
In the 1940s, the five-star shape of a roller chair’s base replaced the four-arm design to prevent people from tipping over as they leaned backward.
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An older chair with a four-arm caster.
Herman Miller said it’s using the information gathered from all its product tests to develop new sustainable materials, improve designs and to better understand the limits of chairs and the science of comfort.
Chairs waiting to be tested.
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
Lyndon French for The Washington Post
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Home Office Furniture Photo editing by Haley Hamblin. Video editing by Jonathan Baran. Editing and Production by Karly Domb Sadof.