The Embody chair by Herman Miller, Inc., has been honored by the Alliance for Plastics Processors (APP), a division of the Society of the Plastics Industry, with the organization's first International Plastics Design Competition award for Furniture. The award was presented on June 24, 2009, during the National Plastics Exposition at Chicago's McCormick Place.
The International Plastics Design Competition allows designers and manufacturers of finished products and components to enter their most innovative achievements in a variety of categories, including medical products, sustainable consumer products, automotive/transportation, and recreation/leisure. Each entry is judged by an anonymous panel of authoritative sources in the industry for innovative and creative application of process, design, tooling, materials, and finishing, together with aesthetic effect and manufacturing quality.
Evaluated alongside submitted new designs from industry competitors, the Embody chair received top score in the competition's furniture category for the innovative material chemistry integrated into its highly flexible, pixelated seat and back. Herman Miller supplier BASF was recognized for its instrumental role in developing the material chemistry, which sustains the chair's strength and flexibility for long term ergonomic comfort, while suppliers Cascade Engineering and ITW Dahti were recognized as component molders.
Embody was developed according to Herman Miller's Design for the Environment protocol, which emphasizes safe material chemistry, recyclability, and ease of disassembly. It contains 45 percent recycled content, is 95 percent recyclable, and PVC free. Embody has also received several rigorous environmental certifications, including BIFMA e3 level 2, MBDC Silver, and GREENGUARD.
About Herman Miller, Inc.
Herman Miller works for a better world around you—with inventive designs, technologies, and related services that improve the human experience wherever people work, heal, learn, and live. Its curiosity, ingenuity, and design excellence create award-winning products and services, resulting in more than $1.6 billion in revenue in fiscal 2009. Innovative business practices and a commitment to social responsibility have also established Herman Miller as a recognized global company. In 2009, Herman Miller was again cited by FORTUNE as both the "Most Admired" in its industry and among the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in America, while Fast Company named Herman Miller among the innovative "Companies to Watch." Herman Miller trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol MLHR.
About the International Plastics Design Competition
For 35 years, the APP has hosted the renowned New Product Design Competition, providing suppliers and processors a venue to demonstrate applications and discuss capabilities in an informal, educational environment. The event has also provided a forum to which OEMs could bring their application needs. In 2009, the APP hosted its first-ever International Plastics Design Competition (IPDC) at the triennial NPE show. The APP is proud to have grown its annual domestic event into the premier international design competition for the plastics industry.