Herman Miller SAYL chair by Yves

Announced today. I think it looks pretty good. Has a nice weirdness to it, like all of the new Miller stuff does, but still has some really clean Fuseprojecty details. I’m curious as to how it sits. Probably more like the Mirra than Embody, which was astoundingly comfortable.

there are armless, non SAYL upholstered, non polished base variations on the link.
LI_SAY_P_20100629_001_D.jpg

It seems like they just threw on a stock base. I’m sure there was good thought put into it but it doesn’t seem to go with the chair very well. THe chair itself is great looking. The matte base is nicer I think.

I don’t know Brett, From the photos it does not feel cohesive at all. It seems like a collage of 3 or 4 designs with no consistent language to it. It’s not bad, but it could have been better in my opinion… but then I don’t find the leaf light attractive either.

I know this is easily changed, but it bothers me that for this press shot the fabric of the seat, and the red material back aren’t the same red. If they were two completely different colors, it wouldn’t bother me, but the fact that they tried to get close with it and didn’t get there, really bothers me.

I hear you mrtwills on the matte base. Much nicer.

I think I’m with Yo on the somewhat erratic arrangement of parts. The back panel looks neither ergonomic nor comfortable, and a warped ‘grid’ pattern makes the seat back look cheap.

The ‘design statement’ makes zero sense. Its a design statement, and then it disappears. Its ergonomic, but was inspired by boats. Maybe the designer could have just said “I wanted to make a chair with a ‘Y’ on the back”.

Is it a lower-midrange model? Maybe I have just spoiled my eyes with their flagship products.

Visually its just looks really unbalanced. Backrest consisting of distinct lines/shapes and then a big blob as middlesection.

Have to agree with mr.Yo about the mashup. I think it could have been a sweeter looking piece in terms of balance and weight if it would have been consistent to the backrest. Colorscheme and materials could be throwing me off a bit though.

Edit:
Too much architechture influence on the backrest? Theres some designstory pages on it on their homepage.
Did look better in all black, but i guess thats no surprise.




This makes more sense to me. Maybe not for HM as a brand, but for an affordable office chair.

agreed.

i like the molded seatback and “y-tower” in abstraction…but not together with the rest of it.

You. Gee. El. Why?

I guess the seat pan and tilt cover do look a little phoned in, but the knobs and levers still look good to me. Maybe I’m giving them benefit of the doubt because I know exactly what’s in there and know how difficult it is to make sexy-time shapes around it. There’s a lot of big nasty parts in there that need a lot of clearance.

I still like the Y frame and the back. Like I said before, it’s weird, but in a way that I want know more about it and explore it. Guess that’s just me.

I like a lot of the individual elements, all of the control stalks, the y on the back. The pan is pretty nice if you know what you have to work with. The sail idea is pretty cool… my critique is in how all of those things don’t seem to relate much to each other… maybe it works better compositionally in person?

I like the innovative aesthetic but it looks uncomfortable. I’m in the market for a new office chair and plan on buying the Aeron chair by Herman Miller. Good ergonomics is the most important feature for a desk chair in my opinion.

So am I… like the molded seatback and “y-tower” in abstraction :smiley: :smiley:

I was just at the HM show room the other day for a ergo seminar. The chair itself is very affordable at 3-4 hundred and is quite comfortable. One of the key things is that it has an increased weight capacity allowance for it’s occupant. Another neat feature is that the seat itself can adjust from 16 - 18 inch depth. The mesh back is quite cool to once you get close to see how the material thickness varies in order to provide give and take to achieve a lumbar support without additional hard ware.

I like it, my only complaint is the butt crack in the Y. I think I could come up with a dozen better solutions, that still add a bit of interest.

[quote=“robertcj”]I like it, my only complaint is the butt crack in the Y.

Maybe they are gearing it towards the plumber industry… (couldn’t resist) :laughing:

The chair in the background of that image looks much more appealing.

I just inherited an Aeron at work, my boss didn’t like it because the mesh screwed up his pants. I would think that was ridiculous if I hadn’t heard it a few times before. You can look directly underneath the seat to find a pile of fabric shavings.

The improvement is amazing. My tailbone no longer aches, (8 hours in a chair + 2-3 hours of commuting every day) and I am a much happier and better person because of it.

Sorry back on topic:

I’d love to try out the adjustment controls. From the pictures I saw there wasn’t any text/graphics, wonder how the message of knob to function is delivered? Is adjustment easy and or necessary on hte SAYL? I never put much importance into constant chair adjustment until I got the Aeron. Now I have my cruising mode, my modeling mode, my drawing mode. Thank you HM for saving my a$$.

The pricing for the SAYL is half of the Aeron. I plan on finding a Herman Miller dealer that has both Aeron and SAYL so I can do a side by comparison. I think you need to see the SAYL in person and experience the chair to determine whether it’s good or not. The price is right though.

I’m with you Yo, I’m really into the non-task format versions.

I really don’t want to bash colleagues in online forums. But that one is just too puzzling.

You all pointed out rightly, how this thing lacks most attributes that define good design, like:

  • built to purpose
  • coherency
  • proportion
  • ergonomics

Not to speak about charme, esprit and brilliance, and now they gave this thing not a
grave stone but a micro site showing the process under a microscope.
Till today I held Yves Behar in high regard, as he brought the world wonderful things like
kada or the leaf lamp. So I can’t imagine him not knowing, that this kid “SAYL” can’t
walk.

Nobody would film his toddler stumbling and put it on youtube to advertise the fact.

What I suspect is, that Herman Miller ended the developement after a costly term,
but without satisfactory result and took what they got to blow it out of proportion
through their (capable) marketing wind machines.

What a shame. This one does need more time to ripe. There is incredible beauty in
the concept of interpreting technical textile as sail that (effortlessly) caries the weight
of the boss.

Try harder, please

yours mo-i

+1 everything Yo said.