Humanscale Diffrient World Chair

I have been experiencing the highs and lows of home office set-ups during lockdown (and Lockdown Two: The Sequel), so as you can imagine, I was thrilled to receive a series of products to test from Humanscale. Based in New York, Humanscale is a company that focuses on producing ergonomic, carefully designed office furniture and accessories that aim to give you the healthiest, most comfortable office set-up you can get, and to look stylish into the bargain. Let’s face it – when we evolved, we weren’t evolving to sit in one spot for our 9 to 5, so when we’re at work, we need to take care of ourselves. This became more apparent to me than ever during lockdown, as I spent months hopping from one chair to another in my house looking for somewhere to hunker down with a laptop, and my back hasn’t thanked me for it! Now, finally, I’ve put together a proper office space. So, how did these products from Humanscale fit in?



Humanscale Diffrient World Chair

www.humanscale.com

RRP $914

Promotional offer code is WFHG-GH

We received the Diffrient World Chair in pinstripe/white, but it is available in a huge range of colours and patterns, all of which you can select and customise when you order. I’m a big fan of the design we received: the light colours compliment the minimal design of the chair to give it a clean, sleek, unobtrusive feel. A lot of desk chairs dominate the room, but this felt like it just accentuated it.

As for the design itself, I’m always wary of mesh chairs – the look of a big padded chair just tells my subconscious that I’m going to have a cosier time. However, this chair is extremely comfortable. It breathes easily, it lightweight to move, and it fits to the shape of my back – I was comfortable whilst still maintaining a good posture, which is rare for me!

Designed by Niels Diffrient, this was Humanscale’s first mesh chair. I think they were right to venture into the area – dare I say I’m a mesh chair convert? What’s great about this chair is that at a first glance, it seems like a very simple office wheelie – just one with an attractive look. However, the designer crammed functionality into it, and did so whilst aiming to keep it as sleek and minimal as possible. It has a weight-sensitive recline that adjusts automatically, using your weight and gravity to adjust, so the designers were able to gut all the mechanisms these chairs usually have. This also means you don’t need to worry about these mechanisms breaking, which for me, tends to happen about two days into a new chair!

All the little details about this chair are simple yet clever. The armrests attach to the back of the chair, meaning they recline and move with you. This plus the automatic recline meant I was able to squirm and shuffle around, and the chair was always supporting me correctly. My back hasn’t been this happy in months. This chair is light and intuitive, moving with you instead of making you feel like you’re adjusting and dragging around some big weight. The front of the chair even curves downwards to protect your legs from the usual uncomfortable edge on hard chair fronts.

In the world of office chair prices, this product is the affordable side of quality, and you get a cleverly designed piece of equipment for the price. I can’t fault this chair, and I hope the Gadgethead team lets me keep it when we move back to the office!

5/5

Pros:

Lightweight
Minimal
Adjusts with you
Comfortable
Breathes
No heavy mechanisms
Many customisable design & colour options