A nesting chair for the hybrid work era: Fuld by Herman Miller

In workplace, education and hospitality interiors, chairs are always on the move. Conference rooms get reconfigured, seminar numbers fluctuate daily, chairs are pushed and pulled around whiteboards in break-out spaces, packed up and packed down like concertinas. As humble vessels for ideas, learning and listening, this particular breed of chair isn’t often very memorable, or comfortable; but what if they could be?

What if a group of these chairs could incite energy with colour and dynamic shape, encourage effortless movement and flexibility through lightweight and mobile design – and even look iconic stacked in a neat nest, poised and ready for action? Herman Miller has answered with Fuld, a new nesting chair on wheels with a lightweight, minimalist design, finely tuned for comfort, movement, aesthetics and space-saving storage.

Fuld’s minimalism is rooted in an economy of materials driven by sustainability through its design. It eschews the typical X shape of a nesting chair for a crisp and organic streamlined inverted Y with tubular arms, engineered in a pioneering one-piece construction that ensures less waste and with a ‘touch of elasticity’ for comfortable movement and support. The precisely woven 3D-knit textile seat is made of 50% recycled polyester, following Herman Miller’s powerhouse parent company MillerKnoll’s sustainability commitment to reduce waste and increase recycled content across its whole portfolio of design brands.

A sure way to uplift neutral (dare we say bland) interiors, Fuld is available in single and dual colour combinations (Olive green, Cocoa brown, Alpine white and Black, with the punchy Canyon red seat coverings amongst other colours) as a proud creative and aesthetic addition to space. It meets the demands of group work and constantly shifting uses in school and university classrooms, especially useful for sessions combining seated periods alongside more active learning. It is ideal for event venues hosting conferences and training sessions in the hospitality sector, as well as flexible break-out spaces in offices across industries, offering easy movement and ‘nesting’ storage that saves space whilst still looking neat and stylish.

Fuld is a responsive evolution for increasingly hybrid and flexible contemporary work styles from Herman Miller, a brand synonymous with workplace design expertise that has been at the forefront of shifting trends for nearly 100 years – from working with mid-century masters such as the Eames and Isamu Noguchi to today’s groundbreaking studios like Industrial Facility and Studio 7.5. Fuld’s design and functionality can be seen as an evolution of Herman Miller’s agile family of Caper chairs, the mid-century inspired Zeph work chair and the minimalist stacking Pronta.

As the first nesting chair in the MillerKnoll portfolio, which includes brands such as Muuto and HAY, Fuld drew lots of attention when it was revealed for the first time earlier this year at the popular industry event MillerKnoll Design Days in Chicago, where the latest brand innovations are presented to the North American market. Designed by German designer Stefan Diez, Fuld impressed visitors with its cutting-edge approach to materials and sustainability, as also seen in Diez’s Boa Table for HAY inspired by Japanese bamboo craftsmanship.

Diez reflects on the design process for Fuld, his very first creation for Herman Miller: 'There's no other company that cares so much about engineering and quality. It's very supportive, it's quite unparalleled, very forward-thinking. The collaboration with Herman Miller never feels like it's driven by constraints, but driven more by an idea. It's clear what we're working for: the product that comes out from the process is not a product that is a compromise.' We hope that conference centres, event venues and classrooms around the world adhere: there should be no compromising when it comes to chairs.

© Architonic

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