Ergonomic Chair Review: Knoll Life Chair

With an array of colors and finishes available, you could fit out an entire office multiple times over and still have no two Knoll Life Chairs be alike.

Life. It’s a small yet grandiose word -- a concept that attempts to capture all facets of existence in its four letters. In my High School speech class my senior year, a freshman once gave a legendary speech that tried to tackle “Life” in three minutes. I’m not simplifying here, the speech was actually called “Life.” It was one of the most rambling, embarrassing and hilariously incomprehensible things I’ve ever witnessed. Although both cereal and board game companies have christened their products with this loaded word, to name an ergonomic chair the Life Chair is still pretty bold.

Knoll, maybe best known as a purveyor of classic furniture from renowned 20th Century designers, is up to the challenge of backing up its chair’s name. The Knoll Life Chair was introduced in 2002 and immediately began racking up design awards at industry events like NeoCon and IIDEX, and one can immediately see why.

The look of the Knoll Life Chair is its most striking quality at first, but if you are looking to reap the benefits of an ergonomic chair, its look is probably secondary to how it feels and moves while sitting in it.

Luckily, the Life Chair’s slim, streamlined design is matched by its ease of adjustment. The flexible mesh back moves intuitively with your body as you go from reclining to working, giving you constant support as you shift your body weight throughout the day. The seat pan is flexible as well, and this coupled with its waterfall edge and four inches of depth adjustment help to relieve pressure points and promote good circulation. The flexible seat and back also feature a synchronized recline that automatically adjusts according to the user’s body weight using advanced counterbalancing technology, freeing you from constant manual adjustment.

Another of the many unique features of the Knoll Life Chair is its lumbar support -- both its built-in support and its optional adjustable lumbar support. While the seat back’s shape and elastomeric knit suspension fabric provide great support for the entire back, you can also add the slow-recovery foam adjustable lumbar support which attaches magnetically for easy addition and removal.

The myriad options available on the Life Chair don’t end with its lumbar support. With an array of colors and finishes available for the seat, back and base, you could fit out an entire office multiple times over and still have no two Life Chairs be alike. Choose between no arms, fixed arms, or adjustable arms -- both standard and high-performance -- or add leather arm pads for an even more sophisticated look.

And since the Knoll Life Chair has replaceable foam seat and back toppers, you can add comfort and support while simultaneously transforming the look of your chair quickly and easily. You can even add a 2.25 inch “Ultra Topper” for even more cushioning in the seat. Since the base model Life Chair comes with just the plastic seat pan, we here at Human Solution definitely recommend getting at least a seat topper. I personally recommend going all the way and adding the Ultra Topper.

If sustainability and environmental consciousness is a priority for you like it is for us here at Human Solution, then you will definitely be pleased with Knoll’s commitment to this in the design of the Life Chair. Efficiently made using minimal materials, recycled and recyclable content, and easily replaced components, the Life Chair was crafted taking its complete life cycle taken into consideration. It has received Gold Certification according to the SMaRT Consensus Sustainable Product Standard -- the first in the industry to achieve this -- and is Greenguard certified as well. Even the factory where Life Chairs are made in Pennsylvania offsets 100% of the energy used with wind power. This is one “green” chair.

If you think the innovatively-designed and intuitively comfortable Life Chair may be the right chair for you, but you need assistance from one of our experts sorting through the options available, you can always email info@humansolution.com, call us at 800-531-3746 or chat with us. Life -- it's a complex concept. But finding the right Life Chair for you shouldn't be.