Working Together to Get to an Award-winning Design
SAYL received the International Design Award for “Product Design of the Year” at a ceremony Sunday evening. That’s a pretty cool award to get. Getting there took a good designer challenging us just as much as we challenged him.
SAYL designer Yves Behar did just that. He asked, “How do we create a task chair that is attainable? Can we make a comfortable, supportive, healthy, and beautiful chair at a lower price point?” Yves challenged us to develop a technology not seen in low-cost seating.
Herman Miller likes designers that ask tough questions and look for creative answers. We also like to work collaboratively to help achieve their vision. Design and engineering should be at the table from the beginning. We feel a close relationship is a key to innovation.
SAYL’s 3D Intelligent back is a perfect example. Herman Miller worked in tandem with Yves on iteration after iteration, each requiring a new mold, in order to achieve proper supportive flex. It took months of trial and error. Traditional methods would have been easy, and less expensive to develop, but we knew Yves was on to something.
Innovation is not an easy or straight forward road to travel, but we’re okay with that. And an award or two helps, too.
Photos: Live Unframed
It’s true that I haven’t seen so much great publicity for a chair that’s this affordable in a long time. The Cobi got some great attention
(I even blogged about it here: http://www.sandiegocubicles.com/blog/steelcase%E2%80%99s-green-office-furniture-wins-recognition/) , but the Sayl is a lower price point that puts it in line with a lot of the run-of-the mill office chairs you see in the average Office Max or Office Depot. Pretty much every other chair in that price range is a variation on the same design – so the SAYL really does stand out.
Daisy