Herman Miller partnered with the students and faculty of DIDI (Dubai Institute of Design), to bring you ‘Ergo Chair—Student Designs for Wellbeing’, a creative project to rethink and reimagine ergonomic seating with wellbeing in mind.

At the end of the 6 week design challenge, the top 5 thoughtfully designed chairs were:  a chair for the masses, a chair for children  who are learning to walk,   a ‘Nurture Chair’, designed for breastfeeding mothers who seek privacy within public spaces, the ‘Fidgeter’s Chair’ designed with an aim to find a balance between the need for control in a particular scenario, and the need for freedom and body movement, and finally a chair designed to adapt to an array of natural bodily impulses and aims to perform equally well in different postures.

Chris Morley, Head of Design at Herman Miller said, “The competition has brought out some great designs, out-of-the-box thinking and really intriguing concepts.”

Hani Asfour, Dean of DIDI, added, “It is very important for our students to engage in industry led challenges for real world experience like this highly educative project with Herman Miller, and for this opportunity we are truly grateful. We are very proud of the results of this collaboration, and hope to continue to provide opportunities for our students that complement our curriculum.”

Mohammed Baazim

Title: A Sitting Device

Description: After the industrial revolution, the traditional workspace was dehumanized and slowly stripped from physical mobility, and one sitting/resting posture became the “standard”. Made up of wood and fiber gel, the organic shape of this sitting device ties in our active past to our passive present by introducing fluidity and movement to the traditional work setting. Ergonomically, this chair adapts to an array of natural bodily impulses and aims to perform equally well in different postures.

Yangkai Zhang

Title: Spider baby walker

Description: The spider baby walker is designed for toddlers who are learning to walk. The seat is different from traditional baby walkers, as it gives children more range of motion, and protects their limbs for better growth. The soft memory foam of the seat provides added comfort. It is simple and not bulky. In addition, every plastic leg has three hinged parts, to customize and adjust height and width. Children will love their spider friend!

Zeina Issa & Hashir Pervez

Title: Nurture Chair

Description: This chair is designed for breastfeeding mothers who seek privacy within public spaces. It is composed of a cocoon-like structure, which provides enclosure while maintaining an airy characteristic highlighted the shells curvy forms and the top open space. The outer structure is made of elastic fabric stretched over bent pipes, as well as a dynamic hinge that enables the easy opening and closing

Agma Aju

Title: The Twiddle

Description: This chair is designed for ‘Fidgeters’. Agma’s aim was to find a balance between the need for control in a particular scenario, and the need for freedom and body movement. The chair allows motion, wobbling in many directions to help users release their energy, but limiting movement to avoid falling or tipping over. This motion helps people to improve their focus by releasing energy through fidgeting, thus calming them down.

Noor Al Fahim 

Title: One for All

Description: The chair is designed to take multiple height and weight percentiles into account. Designers tend to design for the masses and leave out the minorities. Noor wanted to create something that would be inclusive to multiple people. The chair is made of aluminum sheets with perforated holes.