Delightfully uncomplicated: ray work from Brunner

‘Do we still need the classic, fully-fledged office chair in 2024?’, asks Markus Böhm and seems to ponder for a moment. Then the Head of Brunner Product Development leans back, relaxes and shakes his head resolutely. No wonder, after all, he is sitting on ray work and thus, to a certain extent, on the actual answer to his question. The innovative swivel chair is the latest addition to the ray product collection and, like all the furniture in the series, was designed by Stuttgart-based design studio jehs+laub. 

The unique design of ray work combines visual lightness with ergonomic design in a special way. While the soft contours subtly emphasise the chair's homely character, the strikingly slim plastic frame ensures perfect flexibility. The minimalist, straightforward and elegant design effortlessly combines form and function. ‘Our aim was not to make any compromises, but to design a coherent chair’, explains the Head of Development. ‘You can't tell by looking at it what it can do. That's quite an art’.

Yet ray work can do a lot: the beautifully designed and ergonomic new product is the contemporary alternative to the highly complex office chair. It’s possible to adjust everything from the armrests to the spring force and – because you spend eight or more hours on it – you also have to adjust it. However, as Böhm notes, ‘there are virtually no nine-to-five seating activities in today's progressive working environments.’ Ray work is not a nine-to-five chair, but rather a new type of conference and office swivel chair that ensures greater agility in offices, conference areas, co-working spaces or home offices thanks to its visual and, above all, physical lightness. 

The special feature: the chair is not only flexible in its possible uses, but also self-explanatory in its application. ‘Ray work can be anything – just not something that needs explaining’, emphasises Brunner's Head of Product Development. This is out of the question for new forms of work organisation such as desk sharing. What is needed here is a self-explanatory chair without operating instructions and overwhelming functionality – a chair that adapts to the user, not the other way around.

Thanks to Brunner's typical innovative strength, this fundamental design idea has been impressively put into practice. The fact that ray work offers a dynamic seating experience with maximum comfort, even though it is only height-adjustable, is largely due to the intelligent combination of materials and the innovative synchronous mechanism with automatic weight control. The ergonomic design is based on a sophisticated plastic frame construction. The material acts as a spring and enables a level of flexibility that was previously unattainable with a closed armrest. 

This principle is supported by the elastic but dimensionally stable mesh covering, which not only offers adaptable support when sitting, but also emphasises the chair's light and airy appearance. In addition, the integrated synchronised mechanism encourages dynamic sitting and brings the user perfectly into position. The seat and backrest are flexibly connected and, like the frame construction, follow the body's movements. At the same time, the automatic weight adjustment system ensures that the resistance of the backrest automatically adjusts to the user's body weight.

The ergonomic universal swivel chair not only adapts to different users, but also to different working environments. Numerous colour and material combinations ensure that ray work blends harmoniously into any interior. In total, six colours are available for the plastic frame and seven colours for the mesh upholstery. The chair is also available with seat or combined seat and backrest upholstery and with glides or castors. Brunner's new product ultimately presents itself as an extremely contemporary design that meets current demands for individual design options. 

In general, ray work is an ultra-modern chair with a distinctly innovative character that reflects the changed (and still changing) requirements of the modern working world in terms of aesthetics, comfort and function – a perfect example of the company’s motto: ‘We live for furniture that makes new things possible’.

© Architonic

Head to the Architonic Magazine for more insights on the latest products, trends and practices in architecture and design.