Marc Levin: What’s different about the new Foray Chair?

Eric Chan: We’ve done extensive research and a lot of people can’t connect with the chair in their office. When going to the office, a woman (for example) carries a Coach bag or a Gucci. These objects are influence her everyday experience. For 8 hours a day, we should have that kind of sensation in our chair, because the Foray is about comfort and status, it’s not just a sitting machine. You really want to have a personal relationship with the object you’re touching, if you’re driving a car, it’s like part of your body; you carry a bag or sit in a chair, it’s like an extension of your body.

Marc Levin: With your relationship with Herman Miller®, did they come to you and ask you to design a new chair or how did the Foray Chair design get into your hands?

Eric Chan: It was Geiger® in their design partnership with Herman Miller. The need for a new high-end chair was very obvious. Geiger used to have overstuffed, cushy chairs in good old classic wood or leather. The other alternative was Aeron and Mirra, which are expressions of technology, chairs designed more like machines or architect-designed furniture, like objects in space.

Geiger needed a brand between a very comfortable chair – not over designed or over-functioned - and a status chair, for groups of users with elite taste who want to bring an extraordinary chair into their environments: one with expensive wood, upholstery-factory leather, metal materials, like aluminum and also one that’s very ecological. They want their chair to have the right look and comfort, but they don’t want a lot of buttons or adjustments. This has got to be a very personal chair, once you sit on it, you’ll sit for a very long time. Unlike many chairs that may be for multiple sitters, this is more like an individual expression. So the Foray Chair was designed with simple adjustments and major essential ergonomics. Foray encourages and supports the body’s natural movement with pivot points at the hip, knee and ankle.

Marc Levin: What about lower back support?

Eric Chan: We built it in. The PostureFit® on the Aeron Chair was designed so you sit upright and open your chest, because it supports the lower back. We added more adjustments for the lower back, so you can be more agile in working in your daily routine. Most people sitting in the computer position can definitely do their job, but they also need to have a different type of support while discussing, reading, talking and interacting with other people. So we used this latest technology to support a wider range in the Foray.

Do you know about Foray’s Super Seat™? We asked ourselves, what material would work for a range of peoples’ weights, both for a lighter-weight person and a heavier person? We had to stretch and align molecules so the seat would be ergonomically sound for long term seating for all weights – that was the challenge!

Marc Levin: How did your relationship with Herman Miller come about?

Eric Chan: More than ten years ago, I was invited to design a system called Kiva, including components for interactive small team spaces to encourage more dynamic creative collaboration. I was also involved in some internal research for Herman Miller, including advanced thinking about how people work. I’m also part of a design steering group for Herman Miller, more like a design council, to oversee and recommend strategies, for example when their executive team visited China.

Marc Levin: What designers have influenced you? Any alumni of your alma mater, Cranbrook Academy of Art?

Eric Chan: I was from Hong Kong and came to Cranbrook where I sought cultural meaning in design, beyond technology. I was inspired by a few great masters, like Charles Eames and of course, the Italian masters, Bellini for example. Sculptor Isaamu Noguchi is one of my heroes, not just about form and function, but poetry with objects and materials and sensitivity to space. Eames methodology was to use the materials and the technology of the time to advance basic essential expression of form.

Marc Levin: How will the public find out about Foray?

Eric Chan: People saw Foray at NeoCon® last year and was selected for the "Best of NeoCon" Silver Award in the Ergonomic Seating category. I’ve toured Europe and Shanghai. Local marketing teams are doing a lot of training. It’s also featured in Contract magazine as one of the top 10 designs for 2007. There was also a New York Times article. Foray was featured also as a best product in Metropolis magazine and the ID Magazine this year.

Marc Levin: Is there a lifespan for chairs?

Eric Chan: The normal cycle for chairs is 5 to 8 years. Usually when there’s a job or position change people have new requirements (for their chair). Herman Miller has a good warranty for repairing parts. They sell all high-end products. When Aeron was introduced, it was not intended to be mass-produced, it was elite. The other manufacturers tried to catch up, mimicking its attributes, but its looks were distinctive and iconic. There’s no need to replace it, let it be what it is. Foray’s not trying to replace Aeron – it has the look & feel and different audience. Users change over time and they need a different kind of product. Foray and Mirra both have different reasons for being, but the same consistency of quality. If a chair fades away, it wasn’t relevant or it is so good that it never goes away and becomes the all time classic, like the Eames Chair. That’s why we don’t marginalize our products’ portfolio. Honest products will last.

Designed according to the MBDC Cradle to Cradle Design Protocol, Foray has a recycled material content of 49% and is 93% recyclable at the end of its useful life. Foray is also a candidate for GREENGUARD certification.