Variable Balans, Original Kneeling Chair, Designed By Peter Opsvik, Black/Black

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One thing that distinguishes this chair from the crowd is the level of comfort it provides. The seating is not as padded as some competitors, but it is just as comfortable and won’t become flat or heat up your behind. Perfect for home or work, our kneeling chairs promote a sitting position with open body angles, and they keep important core muscles activated. Furthermore, Opsvik’s open design, free of mechanical parts, allows you to easily assume a wide variety of sitting postures.

While other brands of kneeling chairs have adjustable settings, like Office Star, DRAGONN and VIVO, the Variable Balans is non-adjustable, potentially making it not a great fit for those with extra-long legs or a heavier build.This model has the advantage of being significantly less expensive than the Wing Balans Chair, and as such, is more accessible and appealing to a broader swath of the market. Hans Christian Mengshoel was the first designer to come up with the concept of active sitting, he shared his vision with 3 more designers (among which Peter Opsvik) and the “Balans” chair was born. The name of the chair suits it well, since that was their primary mission, to feel balanced while sitting.

The knee pads are slightly different on this model. The standard Balans features two separate knee pads, while this one is a winged design. A single platform to support your knees. The Varier Balans chair comes with a 7 year warranty for the wood frame. The foam used to fill up the seating and knee pads have 5 years of warranty. I'm a Variable Balans believer after my experience with this chair. Ergonomic, beautifully crafted and built to accommodate your sitting preferences, the kneeling chair is paradoxically both one-size-fits-all and custom made. This is the original kneeling chair, designed in 1979 by the legendary Peter Opsvik, of Norway. To date, the only chair to surpass it is the Wing chair, also designed by Opsvik for Varier. As such, any time you see a kneeling chair offered by some other company, this is the one they’re trying to emulate. This is the standard they’re attempting to match or beat. We’d love to see Varier branch out into other types of household furnishings so that it would be possible to decorate your whole home, top to bottom with products offered by this company, but alas, to date, they’ve chosen to focus exclusively on chairs. Still, having seen their designs, we’d love to see what the company could do with coffee tables, end tables, sofas, love seats and the like. The results would no doubt be spectacular.

What is the best kneeling chair?

It’s a beast to put together solo. While it’s not as tough as the Ekstrem, it’s still a brutal experience that will test your patience and probably cause you to invent a few new swear words as you struggle to keep the various pieces together long enough to get the screws in place. This is a chair you’ll want to enlist the aid of a trusty assistant to help you assemble. If you’re in the former camp, this might be your new favorite company.If you’re in the latter group, Varier is almost certainly not the company you’ll want to buy from. Varier Chairs Review Conclusion The instantly recognizable Variable balans is THE original kneeling chair. Building from his seminal research and thinking on ergonomic seating and kneeling chairs, in 1991, Opsvik introduced Thatsit, which is an evolution of the iconic Variable balans. We’ll go over the particulars of all the chairs the company currently offers so you can get a better sense of them and decide for yourself if this is the company you’ve been looking for without even realizing it.To get started, we’ll present all of the Varier chairs in table format to provide an overview, and then drill down into the particulars of each model: About Varier Chairs Some Assembly Required These aren’t simply office chairs, they’re works of art with bold, striking, unforgettable designs, and as such, they’re not for everyone. If you’re one of those rare people who are looking for a bit of artistic flair in your home and office furnishings, however, you’ll find this company to be an amazing resource.

First, you’ll pay a hefty premium for the quality and versatility of this chair. Second, there’s the aesthetic to consider. Even though we rate this model as being tied for our second favorite, it’s not because of its striking good looks. Revive - 100% Recycled polyester - Varier's entry Level Fabric. Hard wearing, but not as soft on the skin as other options. If you wear shorts or skirts in summer we suggest an upgrade to something softer like Forest Nap, Divina or Dinamica. While it would be overselling it to say that the Varier Gravity Balans chair is downright ugly, it would be a hard sell to convince anyone that it was an attractive design. In this case, it’s clear that the designers put the vast bulk of their emphasis on functionality and paid relatively little attention to form.It’s safe to say that all details were considered when building this chair, including the Allen wrench stowed under the seat for tightening needs down the road. The exception here is the Ekstrem.Owing to its highly unusual design, putting this model together is a bit like assembling a life-sized 3D puzzle, and as such, it can be a bit of a head-scratching process.The good news is that it’s something you’ll only have to do once, and you’ll be able to enjoy it after that with only occasional re-tightening needed. Scandinavian Designed and Built