Mirra — One in a Million!
Back in October, I attended a celebration for the build of our one millionth Mirra chair! What is so special about that? Well, the Mirra chair was the first product launched under our Design for the Environment protocol.
I asked Gabe Wing, Senior Environmental Manger for Herman Miller, what that means for the chair. He said it means that the design of this chair took into account the chemical makeup of the components, disassembly, and recyclable materials in the construction of the chair. That makes the sale of a million chairs in its eight-year history pretty special for everyone involved—as well as knowing that we contributed to the health of our environment one million times!
With the help of a web cam connection, the designers of the Mirra chair, Studio 7.5 in Berlin, Germany, and the entire Mirra production team were able to celebrate together and share stories about the ideas behind the design. The enthusiasm of the Studio 7.5 team was contagious!
The linked paper on “The Science of Pressure Distribution” on the Mirra product page is fascinating. I’ve always heard that sitting with a wallet in one pocket is bad for you – it looks like that’s backed by medical information.
The pressure mapping graphics showing how people shift in their chairs are fascinating too. I saw similar technology in one of the Dr. Scholl’s foot mapping kiosks at Wal-Mart recently. That machine told me I had normal arches but “high foot pressure”. I think it was trying to politely tell me to lose weight! I think I just need shoes that distribute the pressure evenly.
Daisy McCarty
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