Seating the security guy
Security is broadly defined as the quality or state of being secure. To be secure, one must invest in ensuring a secure future. So what do you do when you have the most award winning, successful seat in the industry, and your patent is about to run out?
Well, Herman Miller, a US manufacturer of office furniture (rather expensive furniture some might say) is a couple of years away from losing its patents on a seat that has a place of permanence in the MOMA collection: The Aeron Chair. Like it or hate it, the Aeron chair is responsible for much mullah for the Herman Miller corporation.
The somewhat ugly but very functional Aeron chair was designed by Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf, and was released in 1994. Give 17 years or so for a patent, and the Aeron’s patent expires. Perhaps Knoll (a competing manufacturer of seating) will create an Aeron look alike? Here is the breakdown of the chair for you home tinkerers.
Faced with an uncertain future Herman Miller did the three things they could to secure their future:
1. Add features to extend the patent period: Herman Miller added their posturefit lumbar support attachment in around 2001. Designed by Dr. Brock Walker, who in defiance to his name prefers skiing to walking, the posturefit attachment is a more comfortable version of the lumbar support pillow.
2. Copyright/Trademark the design: Copyrights and trademarks, unlike patents, don’t necessarily expire. So while competitors will be able to copy the mechanics of the chair, they will not be able to copy the tell-tale shape of the chair. So a copy will look “different”, and the comfort of the differently shaped seat might be different as well.
3. Design a whole new seat: The Embody chair, at almost twice the cost of the Aeron, is Herman Miller’s last aspect of the atrategy to secure their future. Also designed by the late Bill Stumpf, with Jeff Weber, is as prominent as the Aeron Chair by being, well, different. And as ugly.
That is Herman Miller’s strategy for Security. Security that is securing their future. Not firewalls, no locks, no DLP and no database security. But a security strategy nonetheless (with investment, and resources, and secrecy). Just an audacious resolve to keep ownership of the ergonomic seating market. With this kind of focus on securing their future, I sense that Herman Miller with its ugly seating is here to stay for the forseeable future.