Cosm Office Chair

For Berlin-based Studio 7.5 designers Carola Zwick, Roland Zwick and Burkhard Schmitz, their latest chair for Herman Miller represents a holy grail: a design that instantly creates a new reference point for personalized comfort. Cosm’s new Auto-Harmonic Tilt in particular was a goal they had been working on for years.

Even while working on predecessors such as Mirra, Setu and Mirra 2, the designers knew that the ideal chair would provide a soft sense of natural balance. “You should have a chair that allows you to change positions as easily as possible,” says Roland. “You can only do that with a properly adjusted chair, so we wanted to make a chair that does that part for you.” The tilt for a chair is to a chair what a transmission is to a car, and like transmissions some are manual and others like Cosm’s are automatic. In other self-adjusting models, the chair decides how you should sit by forcing the body to conform to the movement of the tilt. Cosm’s Automatic Harmonic Tilt puts the person at the forefront and responds to whatever their posture is, ensuring a balanced recline and personalized comfort. Studio 7.5 and Herman Miller perfected the self-adjusting tilt by inventing a complex and fine-tuned mechanism. Taking into account the sitter’s vertical force, which is always variable, gears inside the tilt move the fulcrum along a leaf spring to automatically adjust the tension of the chair.

The tilt alone doesn’t make the Cosm the most refined design to date; a meticulous process of prototyping hundreds of hand-sculpted and 3D printed parts paved the way to a unique seating experience. “One of the biggest challenges – or I should say one of the biggest opportunities – was determining how to attach the suspension to the frame so that it fit as seamlessly as possible,” says Burkhard. The answer came in the form of small “teeth” that allow the suspension material to clip into the frame of the chair and remain taut, ensuring even pressure distribution. The way Studio 7.5 attach the suspension to the frame is a prime example of what they call “industrial craftsmanship”; a guiding light in their design process. “Even if you’re not a mechanic or engineer, we like a readable product so you can understand how you’re supported,” says Carola.

Chair For You

Sit on Cosm and you can forget you’re sitting in a chair. Its sophisticated ergonomic design responds instantly to your body, movement and posture to provide natural balance and full support. Cosm’s Auto-Harmonic Tilt, Intercept suspension and flexible frame work together to give you a sense of weightlessness.

Auto-Harmonic Tilt

The incline provides balanced support and movement instantly and automatically depending on your body and posture.

Intercept Suspension

Breathable and temperature neutral, the continuous form of this elastomeric suspension adapts to each person’s body to provide dynamic spinal support, eliminating the gap between seat and back.

Flexible Frame

The slim yet strong frame feels almost non-existent and offers support when flexing, so you can move your upper body comfortably.

Research on Cosm

A new study shows that ergonomic design can reduce stress at work.