the Liberty chair designed by Niels Diffrient

The Liberty chair is based on one idea — that sitting comfortably should be the easiest part of your day. Goodbye manual adjustments The Liberty chair is designed to give the maximum ergonomic benefit to the sitter with a minimum number of manually-adjusted controls. Once the chair is fitted, no further adjustment is required. The idea is that movement, which is essential for a healthy body, shouldn’t be constricted by locking mechanisms and manual controls. In other words, sitting comfortably isn’t something you should have to think about.

Liberty’s Designer One of the century’s preeminent designers, Niels Diffrient has endeavoured throughout his career to emphasise the “human factors” of industrial design, using ingenuity and intuition to bring consumers products that meet their needs. the designer “When design springs from an understanding of the people who are going to use a product, you begin to see forms that you would never have imagined." Niels Diffrient From his 25 years at the office of Henry Dreyfuss, where his signature output covered everything from thermostats to high voltage towers, to one of his most recent projects,...

Hello Liberty. The Liberty chair was designed specifically to encourage frequent, spontaneous changes of position. There are no locks and no tension springs to negotiate. Instead, there are elegant mechanisms that automatically support your body in every position you’ll assume throughout the day. Liberty’s advanced technology has made sitting simple. Now you can think about your work, rather than worry about your chair.

Body fit The seat, back and headrest may be independently positioned to fit your exact body size. Responsive backrest Liberty’s unique Dual Pivot backrest automatically adapts to the changing needs of your spine during recline. Intelligent mechanism Liberty’s revolutionary counterbalance mechanism automatically provides the right amount of recline tension for your body size and weight. Automatic headrest The dynamic, positionsensitive headrest cradles your head and neck as you recline, and moves out of the way when you sit upright — automatically. Synchronous armrests Liberty’s bodyfriendly,...

Movement is essential for a healthy back People are spending more time sitting than ever before. Not surprisingly, this increase in sitting has been accompanied by a proportional increase in back problems. Our bodies were designed to move. In fact, movement, more than anything else, provides nourishment for the spine, keeps the joints lubricated and flexible, improves circulation and therefore keeps us comfortable. Conversely, when we don’t move, the elasticity of our spine and joints is reduced and our muscles become fatigued. The key to healthy and comfortable sitting is being able to move...

Any fixed posture, no matter how closely it approaches the optimal, will generate muscle fatigue. Therefore, it is important to build in flexibility to allow operators to shift positions easily.

Relax. It’s good for you An upright sitting posture transfers the weight of your entire upper body through your spine directly to the sitting bones, increasing pressure and discomfort. Reclining, on the other hand, transfers some of the body’s weight to the backrest, reducing the load on your sitting bones. The more you recline, the more the weight of your body is proportionately distributed. Also, the angle between your torso and thighs opens up, allowing better breathing and easing internal pressure. This is why you can stay fully recumbent for hours without discomfort.

The more you recline, the more the weight of your body is proportionately distributed and the more comfortable you get. Ergo, the best chair is a bed. Niels Diffrient Liberty’s recline is supported by lifting body weight. Perfectly adjusted recline Liberty’s revolutionary exoskeletal design works like a humansized weighing scale. The chair’s virtual pivot point is at the body’s natural pivot point – the hip – so the geometry of the chair parallels that of the body. As you recline, your weight automatically balances the force required to recline the chair, effortlessly keeping Liberty in perfect...

Why traditional headrests don’t work Headrests are added to chairs because your head needs support when you recline — which is why people without headrests put their hands behind their heads when they lean back. However, a fixed headrest is usually in the wrong position. And a manually adjustable headrest requires constant adjustment every time you change position, and who can be bothered with that? Liberty’s advanced headrest technology Liberty’s headrest mechanism is as smart as the rest of the chair. It is ingeniously connected to the chair’s reclining mechanism, so that when you lean back,...

Headrest revolution. As you recline, the headrest moves forward to support your head. In full recline, the headrest moves to an optimum working position, cradling your head and neck in perfect comfort.

Synchronous armrests! Armrests matter Armrests are critical to long-term comfort and health. Without them, the neck and shoulders have to carry the weight of the arms (11% of body weight), putting strain on the upper back and pressure on the spine. But incorrectly adjusted armrests cause similar problems. Different tasks require different armrest heights: low for desk work and keyboarding/mousing, mid-range for conversational posture, high for reading/ reclining. If armrests are not adjusted as tasks change, then the user isn’t getting their full benefit. Synchronous is easy The revolutionary...

Today’s armrests The individually adjusted armrests on traditional chairs are difficult to get even, and, in fact, unknowing users often set them at different levels on purpose. This virtually ensures that they sit (sometimes for years) with a crooked spine – a high-risk posture for back injury. Synchronous is better Liberty’s synchronous armrests ensure you’ll always work in balance, with your spine straight and your weight evenly distributed on your sitting bones. And that’s critical for long-term safety and comfort. Stress–free recline The armrests on most traditional chairs attach to the...