Sales of Kinnarps' popular PLUS CHAIR have reached almost two million
The Plus chair is an ergonomic success story. You can find it everywhere – in offices, air traffic control towers, advanced research labs and heavy manufacturing industry. With the opportunity to choose between two different types of tilting mechanism – FreeFloat, which adapts itself freely to the movements of the body, or Synchrone, which has a gentler movement pattern – everyone can find an active, ergonomic way of sitting that suits them.
The Plus chair was launched by Kinnarps in 2001, in response to the tough challenge of following the flagship 6000 and 8000. The new chair took shape through a close cooperation between designer Johan Larsvall at Idesign and Kinnarps' development department, who were responsible for the technical solutions.
"A distinguishing feature of Plus is the accentuated side line in the back – a marker of the position of the lumbar support, which is so important for good comfort and lower back support. The shape indicates a function and offers an inviting gesture," says Larsvall.
Another typical feature of Plus is the five-star base with its foot relief and massage function, which has become a trendsetter in the industry. This feature was added after a research report showed that foot massage contributes to stimulating the brain.
"If you manufacture nearly two million chairs, it's also important for them to have a shape that stands the test of time. You should be able to reupholster them, replace spare parts and reuse them over and over again – without the design feeling dated."
Today, Plus is the backbone of many European authorities and large companies. Arne Ekbom, the Kinnarps designer responsible for many of the Plus chair's technical solutions, attributes the success of the chair to its unique combination of form and function.
"Plus is visually appealing, small and neat, unlike a lot of task chairs, which can be perceived as rather wide at the top. The spring system gives the chair a good balance, which adapts itself to your body weight and gives you support across the whole range of movements you make."
One thing he is sure of is that Plus has a long life ahead of it.
"I think we'll see two parallel tracks – the Plus chair with many individual settings, which is more of a single-person chair, and highly intuitive chairs that can adapt themselves to many different users during the course of a single working day."
DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?
For more information, please contact:
Kristina Hjalmarsson
Internal communication, PR & Event Executive, Kinnarps AB
Tel.: +46 (0) 706 38 52 87
Email: kristina.hjalmarsson@kinnarps.se
About Kinnarps
Kinnarps delivers interior design solutions for offices, schools and healthcare facilities. The entire value chain is characterised by high quality and low environmental impact – from raw materials to finished solutions. Kinnarps is one of Europe's biggest manufacturers of interior design solutions, with operations in 40 countries and a Group turnover of over 420 million Euro. Kinnarps was founded in 1942 by Jarl and Evy Andersson. It is still today a wholly-owned family business.
