Come to think of it - Feather chair in limbo

Delta and Delft Integraal often write about innovative ideas that offer big promises for the future. But what has happened to such ideas a couple years on? What for instance has happened to the micro gravity chair?

Delta 31-01-2002
Industrial designer Niels Vrijlandt won the Assistant-SEE-Innovation Competition with his micro gravity chair.

Nearly nine years ago, industrial designer Niels Vrijlandt predicted his micro gravity chair would be on the market in 2003. “In the beginning everything was going really well,” he recalls. “We traveled to the United States, Germany and Hong Kong and received enthusiastic reactions from companies that make office chairs.”

A company in Hong Kong was keen to produce this new office chairs. Vrijlandt: “We already had a deal, but the financial crisis hit the company hard. Around the world people spend a lot less money on office chairs. Most of them hang on to the ones they had. The company in Hong Kong therefore decided not to put our chair on the market. It has disappointed me that it proved so hard to sell the chair. Because of the production costs needed to set up a new line of office chairs, companies had to make tens of thousands to make a profit. This costs hundreds of thousands euros.”

The micro gravity chair has a feather compensation mechanism that is built into the chair’s undercarriage. Because of this feather mechanism, the chair moves easily in any direction one wants. “With your little finger you could move the chair in any position,” Vrijlandt explains. “When you sit on it and move, the chair moves with your body. When you move your mouse for example the chair supports this movement. You could compare it to sitting on a Skippy ball. I believe that it’s bad for a person to sit still and that it’s good to move around. The micro gravity chair underlines my vision: one moves while sitting.”

Vrijlandt has since managed to use this technique to help people who have muscle disorders. “We’ve used the mechanism in a wheelchair, so one who has a muscle disorder can move an arm without much effort,” he says. “I’ve also heard of people using it to shake someone’s hand, comb their hair or put a pizza in the oven. For such people it makes a big difference that they can use their arms. Normally our technique would never have been developed to help them, because it’s such a small market, but since we had already done all the research, it was great to develop this.”

Vrijlandt has high hopes that his chair will be on the market in future: “But that depends on what day you talk to me about this. Some days I think it won’t  work. Today a big company asked for information about the chair, so I believe we do have a chance again to put it on the market.”
  

Niels Vrijlandt: "The financial crisis hit the company hard." (Foto: Sam Rentmeester/FMAX)

Delta 31-01-2002
Industrial designer Niels Vrijlandt won the Assistant-SEE-Innovation Competition with his micro gravity chair.

Nearly nine years ago, industrial designer Niels Vrijlandt predicted his micro gravity chair would be on the market in 2003. “In the beginning everything was going really well,” he recalls. “We traveled to the United States, Germany and Hong Kong and received enthusiastic reactions from companies that make office chairs.”

A company in Hong Kong was keen to produce this new office chairs. Vrijlandt: “We already had a deal, but the financial crisis hit the company hard. Around the world people spend a lot less money on office chairs. Most of them hang on to the ones they had. The company in Hong Kong therefore decided not to put our chair on the market. It has disappointed me that it proved so hard to sell the chair. Because of the production costs needed to set up a new line of office chairs, companies had to make tens of thousands to make a profit. This costs hundreds of thousands euros.”

The micro gravity chair has a feather compensation mechanism that is built into the chair’s undercarriage. Because of this feather mechanism, the chair moves easily in any direction one wants. “With your little finger you could move the chair in any position,” Vrijlandt explains. “When you sit on it and move, the chair moves with your body. When you move your mouse for example the chair supports this movement. You could compare it to sitting on a Skippy ball. I believe that it’s bad for a person to sit still and that it’s good to move around. The micro gravity chair underlines my vision: one moves while sitting.”

Vrijlandt has since managed to use this technique to help people who have muscle disorders. “We’ve used the mechanism in a wheelchair, so one who has a muscle disorder can move an arm without much effort,” he says. “I’ve also heard of people using it to shake someone’s hand, comb their hair or put a pizza in the oven. For such people it makes a big difference that they can use their arms. Normally our technique would never have been developed to help them, because it’s such a small market, but since we had already done all the research, it was great to develop this.”

Vrijlandt has high hopes that his chair will be on the market in future: “But that depends on what day you talk to me about this. Some days I think it won’t  work. Today a big company asked for information about the chair, so I believe we do have a chance again to put it on the market.”