Seating settings for all situations by Mara

Remember way back when going to the office meant a morning dash from home, take-away coffee en route, lifts, escalators, reception, a sea of monitors, the walk of shame down the aisles when late… all ending with a slump into an office chair. At which point any late night seat-switching would become apparent, because your back would fly forward and legs tip off the front? 

The adjustable office chair is perhaps the surest sign you are in a corporate environment. All ergonomics and ease of maintenance, it is invariably upholstered in springy dark fabric with levers and dials aplenty to still the racing heart of the health and safety officer, and adjust to all shapes, sizes, postures – and pains. The design might be iconic – I fought over the last remaining Herman Miller Aerons in my last office job with the rest of the design cognoscenti – but it would be hard to call them homely. And today the office isn’t meant to feel like an office in the traditional sense. It’s designed to convince you that you are really at home, whether it’s a commute away or two steps across the landing.

As the environmental atmosphere of the office evolves, so too do the aesthetics and ergonomics of sedentary working life. R&D departments across the design industry have been applying themselves to developing tables for dining that double as desks; made from materials whose appearance is warm and inviting as befits a home, but built to take the daily assault of digital devices. As Covid wreaked havoc in 2020, Mara, the Italian specialists in high-functioning but elegant working furniture, were developing a series of multifunctional tables called Follow, available in a variety of shapes and colours, whose key attribute is a discreet mechanism that allows the height to be adjusted smoothly and swiftly; the goal was comfortable aesthetics, but practical and ergonomic functionality.

Now it’s the turn of chairs to adapt to new office conditions. This year Mara briefed the architect and designer Marcello Ziliani to develop, alongside the brand’s hard-working engineering team, versatile seating that can integrate readily into all possible working scenarios. The result is the newly launched Icon collection, a series of chairs with a choice of bases – swivel 5-spoke base on castors, 4-spoke base or classic four leg base – and a seat, high-backed or low-backed, that is softly cushioned with moulded foam and upholstered in hard-wearing, removable upholstery in inviting colours. Highly-technical, it has in-built ergonomics and a hidden mechanism that allows the back to be adjusted for perfect posture. 

'We wanted to use a simple language but at the same time express personality, something that does not want to be formally aggressive or intrusive, but is equally capable of being noticed and remembered, evoking images of familiarity and emotional closeness,' says Ziliani, who also equates the project to a 'bridge’. 'Because it links different types, different functions and different uses in a natural, effective and functional way, but also is a constructively sophisticated object.' Indeed, innovative engineering was required to give it the appealing profile of tub seating, while separating the back and seat – so that they move independently and therefore ergonomically. The slim gap that separates the two lightens the whole chair.

It wouldn’t, of course, be 2022-ready if it didn’t also strive to reduce environmental impact in its manufacture and durability; Icon is a robust design made at the company’s production site using local suppliers. It joins Loto Recycled – an existing seating design by Mara that is newly relaunched in 100% recycled and recyclable polypropylene – in the brand’s drive to achieve circularity in its operations. Finally we have the perfect perches to keep us productive, sitting comfortably and sustainably and feeling at home – even when we are not.

© Architonic

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