Peter Opsvik

The only bad thing I can stay about this book is that I often read it at the end of the day, when my back was hurting, which made Peter Opsvik's observations on the problems of modern seating seem like adding insult to injury.

Opsvik starts out with a number of premises, two of which I found very striking: one, that the human body was not made to sit with the thighs and back at a 90 degree angle (you end up flattening the lumbar curve), so the ideal chair will accommodate either leaning forward or leaning back and two, that the human body was not made to sit in one position for long, so the ideal chair is not one that creates one "perfect" posture, but one that allows for a variety of postures.

From these premises, he derives a number of different seating solutions ranging from hammock-like chairs suspended from the ceiling to a giant jungle of fabric covered round cushions.

Many individuals will find that Opsvik's designs are out of their price range. (Tripp Trapp, one of his best sellers, will set you back about $250, and it's a relatively simple model.) However, the book still provides plenty of food for thought.… (más)