Educational Seating
Hille renowned for their quality educational seating were looking to produce the next generation of school chair, working with seating designers David Rowe and Professor Richard Snell of the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design at Birmingham City University. The chair, which directly provides superior thoracic, lumbar and pelvic support to the back was developed to enable children to improve their periods of effort and concentration and to reduce poor posture.
Birmingham City University’s Research Innovation Enterprise and Services team funded elements of the two year R&D programme.
Richard Snell's experience has been in the contract furniture sector, working mainly with architects and specifiers. Design work has focused on seating for schools and universities, restaurants and cafes, hotels and halls of residence, airports and transport hubs around the world. He has an impressive list of clients and partners including Conran, British Airport Authority, Commonwealth Games, Trust House Forte, Littlewoods, Debenhams, Fitch & Co, Hostess Furniture and most recently, Hille.
David Rowe has had considerable experience working with renowned Midlands furniture brands, such as Gordon Russell, especially on products where consideration of posture has been important, meeting a real market need for this specialisation.
"Throughout the 20th century the chair has been regarded as the definitive design test, encouraging artists, designers, architects and engineers to create chairs that captured their design philosophy."
Designers of the 21st century are building on this approach, extending it to include issues such as sustainability and impact on quality of life," said Professor Snell.
"In starting to think about designing a new school chair we had to be aware of the new European standards, the well-being of the user - school children, both here and overseas.
"As a result the SE Chair exceeds the postural requirements of then new BS EN 1729 standard and is available in 6 sizes and in 3 frame colours. Skid base and swivel versions are among the variations in development.
"A lot of people had ranges of products in the market already. We needed points of differentiation, but we also needed to be competitive on price. Polypropylene is a cost effective material. We looked to produce a chair that would sell for under £21.
"However we wanted to see if we could mix polypropylene with other materials by designing a chair with separate back and base, providing the opportunity for separate material options within one chair."
The Client
Hille has been producing quality educational seating and furnishings for over 50 years having worked with some of the UK’s top furniture designers including Robin Day, known for the Polychair and Fred Scott.
Hille is known as a company focussed on design excellence and continues to work with new designers and new technologies producing a wealth of knowledge and continued success. Hille has lost none of the commitment and passion required to grow into the 21st Century in the knowledge that it will one day deliver the next classic.
"Separate seated chairs have not been in vogue so Richard Snell and David Rowe's design approach with the SE Chair has been brave and commendable in the precision of its conception, facilitated through Birmingham City University-funded research and testing.”
Brian Foster, Hille Managing Director
Results
Through the partnership, the design, developed by the University, was manufactured and was made available for sale in 2009. The Chair, to date, has sold 17,000 units.
Benefits
- Ability to design new product unique to Hille at commercial price point with clear points of differentiation, meeting new EU standards, designed to meet sustainability criteria and focussed on ensuring maximum comfort for the user.
- The project has also allowed the University to work with an external partner to create and realise a visionary new chair design. The design, which directly addressed the government’s BSF (Building Schools of the Future) building programme, where design quality is paramount, demonstrates the unique value of applied research and business know-how developed through partnership working.
- The University has been able to use the project to build its industry knowledge, enhance the curriculum, build its research understanding and enhance its income generation.
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