Humanscale Ocean Chairs

Every year, more companies focus on protecting the environment and moving towards a carbon-neutral world. Employees and customers have expressed ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) as influential criteria when considering employment or purchasing decisions. Many products that make your office look beautiful are undergoing a redesign for sustainability to minimize their environmental impact. It’s not all about sustainability, however. Since employees sit for a considerable part of the day, ergonomics is also a significant element for making your employees feel comfortable at the office.

Humanscale has combined both and created a line of ergonomic “ocean chairs” made with reclaimed fishing nets to reduce the harm to our ecosystem. So, while plastic waste has already damaged our oceans, Humanscale has started to reverse that damage with an ergonomic chair line.

Their first chair, the “Smart Ocean,” was launched in 2018. It has a wide variety of backing and seating color options to meet the needs of any office aesthetic. This chair has exceptional lumbar support that adjusts to your body. Jefferson Group’s team tried these chairs while visiting the Humanscale showroom and loved their comfort. The Ocean Chairs are net positive, meaning the planet is measurably better with every chair produced. The Smart Ocean chair has received numerous sustainability certificates and was the start of Humanscale’s environmentally friendly journey.

The second chair they launched in 2021 is the “Liberty Ocean” chair. Everyone is of different heights and weights, so chairs typically have many adjustments to meet the comfort level of each person. An office without dedicated desks and chairs can make a comfortable chair hard to find without having to adjust the chair each time. With the Liberty Ocean Chair, there are no levers to adjust, as the chair automatically fits you. The frame of this chair is different, with the back pieces going inward rather than straight. The Liberty Ocean also comes with several varieties of backing and color options. The factory produces these chairs using 100% rainwater to be even more environmentally friendly. The Liberty and Smart Ocean chairs are a very similar design and look.

This year Humanscale created the “Path Chair,” which is said to be the world’s most sustainable and ergonomically advanced task chair. Being their newest sustainable chair, they created an impact scale showing how much impact 1, 100, or 1,000 of these chairs have on the environment. For example, one chair saves 15 gallons of water compared to a standard chair production, or 100 chairs use 1,000 lbs. of ocean plastic upcycled. The Path Chair has an entirely different design from the first two Ocean Chairs. The base comes in metal or plastic and has a much lighter weight, making the chair easily transportable. In addition, the chair comes in fabric or leather, and the arms adjust up and down, making it simple to adjust for comfort.

With the track we’re on now, there could be more plastic than fish in our oceans by 2050. Humanscale has made strides in such a positive way for our environment, and this is something other brands are working towards as well. Their journey has just begun, and we cannot wait to see what Humanscale does in the future to protect our planet!