THINK, Like Our Office Chair

We have indeed decided to get a rather clever office chair: one that thinks about the environment as well as our body posture. Plus it is a beautiful chair. Its name is THINK, by Steelcase, specialists in office furniture. The company commits to applying Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), Materials Chemistry and Recycle/Reuse strategies to the design of all their products. Their environmental transparency is what made us trust in Steelcase’s products and convinced us that they are truly eco-friendly, and, although a little pricey in the beginning (460€ + IVA), well-priced if you look at it long-term. We are not planning on ever getting another office chair.

So why the THINK chair?

It’s locally produced in Sarrebourg, France, which reduces the impact of the transportation (petrol, CO2, packaging…). In fact, the chairs are made close to the client in Europe, Asia or Northern America, and only put into production after it’s been bought. This brings with it that you have to wait up to 3 weeks for your chair, but on the other hand, only as many chairs as needed are being produced.

THINK has been designed considering the environmental impact of each stage of the product’s life cycle: from what materials are being used, to the production, the transportation involved, its use as well as what happens to it at the end of its life.

Regarding the first stage for example, Steelcase managed to reduce the weight of the chair to 15 kg. 40% of the materials of THINK are recycled materials, it’s completely PVC-, lead-, chrome- and mercury-free and 99% of the materials are recyclable. This is made possible because the chair has been designed for easy disassembly. Apparently, you can take it apart in 5 minutes using ordinary house tools. We haven’t tried that yet, but this again results in other advantaged such as the possibility to exchange, replace or repair the different part of the chair easily, increasing its lifespan drastically.

All this obtained Steelcase quite a few environmental certifications, amongst which the Cradle to Cradle certification ‘gold’

So now you want to know if it is comfortable? Oh yes it is! Its seat and back flexors make it move with the body for extra comfort, and the seat, back, and armrest are fully adjustable.

To see Steelcase’s whole collection of chairs and other office furniture, please visit their web site.