The best seat in the house: ZÜCO

Brand story by Katharina Sommer
St. Gallen, Suisse
08.04.20

ZÜCO may have been in business for almost a century, but that doesn’t stop the Swiss seating experts embracing the latest technology for enviable ergonomics.

Ergonomic, functional and aesthetically sophisticated: the Swiss seating furniture manufacturer Züco knows what it takes to make outstanding office and conference chairs

Sigmund Freud's couch is well-known, but did you know he owned an office chair that was designed especially for him? Freud had a habit of putting his legs over one of the armrests while reading and holding the book high in the air. This was most likely not very comfortable, which is why his daughter commissioned Viennese architect Felix Augenfeld in the early 1930s to design a chair that would make this unusual sitting position more relaxing.

With the Signo conference and office chair, Züco fulfils the most demanding requirements: elegant and comfortable, striking yet formally understated, it blends into any office environment

Today, thankfully, we don’t have to resort to bespoke furniture built for us personally by a hired designer to enjoy a comfortable and back-friendly sitting position at our desks. Fortunately, there are now well-thought-out office chairs that can be configured to meet a wide range of wishes and needs – both in terms of design and ergonomics – and which make sitting a pleasure as well as healthy.

'Sigmund Freud's couch is well-known, but did you know he owned an office chair that was designed especially for him? '

One company which is familiar with this is Züco, a seating furniture manufacturer founded almost 100 years ago in Rebstein, Switzerland. Having started out making upholstered furniture, today office and conference chairs form a central part of its product range. These chairs are characterised by ergonomic seating comfort, timeless design, high-quality materials and the best possible quality of workmanship based on decades of experience, craftsmanship and state-of-the-art technology.

Signo impresses with its striking backrest bar in aluminium. Those who prefer things puristic and monochrome choose the matt black powder variant

Not a company to rest on its laurels, Züco offers solutions for the constantly changing working environments and their varying requirements. A clear language of form and simple, elegant design ensure that the product is easily recognisable. As a result, the chairs find a home in a variety of offices – whether larger, more established companies or young start-ups; classically organised space or the open-plan office.

Züco offers functional luxury with the Selvio office chair. Its hallmark is the slim backrest with double S curve, which is available in an elegant, fully-upholstered version or with a more modern mesh finish

The Selvio office chair, for example, shows what the successful symbiosis of striking design and functional ergonomics can look like. Regarded as an entry-level model in the Züco world, it was designed by Rüdiger Schaack. Schaack decided to make an ergonomic detail – the slender backrest with its pronounced S-line design – the unmistakable design feature of the chair. A zipper and lumbar handle on the back of the backrest form a functional and innovative addition and at the same time demonstrate Züco's craftsmanship.

Whether it’s the cantilever or swivel chair version, the successful VisitaRe model from Züco always catches the eye while ensuring maximum seating comfort

The Visita Re conference chair is also part of this clear, new design language, with Schaack reworking this successful model and adding modern details. The chair's striking feature is its special shape, a free-floating, belted seat which provides a high level of comfort on the one hand, while ensuring recognitional value on the other. Three frame variants offer additional configuration options. Those who enjoy more elegance with a touch of Bauhaus can choose the cantilever model whereas the two height-adjustable bogies on 4 or 5-star bases offer a more classical functionality.

'This goes to show that an office chair which takes into account the individual characteristics of its users is not only good for physical health and well-being, but also for those of the mind'

The elegant Signo office and conference chairs by designer Jessica Engelhardt also meet the most diverse requirements. Refined aluminium elements such as the not insignificant backrest bar, and precise seam tracking are impressive while a slim backrest with double S-curve ensures ergonomic comfort. Seat height, depth, tilt, back-counterpressure as well as rocker function can also be individually adjusted meaning everyone gets a chair that is tailor-made for them.

For standing situations and shorter meetings, Züco offers its Signo model in an elegant high-chair version with a foot ring

As work structures become increasingly flexible and spatial planning less formal, office furniture must also be able to react to these changes. Züco therefore offers two additional models in the form of the Signo swivel chair family. The high desk version with foot ring and high gas spring is suitable for working at high tables or for short meetings in the middle zone. Signo easy task was designed for use at alternating workstations – a more reduced version, it does not, however, sacrifice any of its comfort.

Freud's sitting position at his desk may strike us as unusual, but it helped him to achieve the greatest intellectual achievements. This goes to show that an office chair which takes into account the individual characteristics of its users is not only good for physical health and well-being, but also for those of the mind.

Learn more about ZÜCO