here's how these chairs can improve the way you work and live.

The Core 'Balans' Philosophy

The Balans concept (meaning “balance”) originated in Norway in the late 1970s as a revolutionary approach to active seating. Spearheaded by physician A.C. Mandal and designer Hans Christian Mengshoel, it set out to answer a simple question: why do humans force themselves into stiff, static positions in traditional chairs?

Mengshoel introduced the kneeling posture and enlisted Norwegian designers—including Peter Opsvik—to develop furniture based on this idea. Opsvik, who believed that the body functions best when in constant motion, transformed strict functionalism into the iconic ergonomic designs known today.

Opsvik argued against the idea of a single “correct” posture. He observed that the human body intuitively seeks variation; his guiding philosophy became, “the next position is always the best.” Balans chairs avoid conventional, static sitting by featuring tilted seats and curved wooden runners that encourage dynamic, active movements.

Key Milestones & Iconic Designs

1979 (Variable™ Balans): Designed by Opsvik, this was the world’s original kneeling chair. Its tilted seat and shin cushions promote an open hip angle, effortlessly aligning the spine in its natural, standing curvature.

1983 (Gravity™ Balans): Opsvik took the balans concept a step further by creating a steel rocker that lets users shift seamlessly between four postures, including a reclined “zero-gravity” state.

Production and Legacy

While initially met with skepticism by traditional manufacturers, the line gained massive popularity among back-pain sufferers and designers alike. The chairs were originally produced by the Norwegian company Stokke. In 2006, the production and distribution of the balans collection were transferred to Varier Furniture, a brand founded to carry on Opsvik’s active-sitting vision – now with the Opsvik family holding a majority share of the business.

The fundamental difference is philosophy: traditional ergonomic office chairs focus on passive support, while Balans chairs force active sitting.

Traditional chairs use a standard 90-degree seating angle and backrests to hold your body in place. Balans chairs drop your knees below your hips to open up the pelvis, using your own core muscles to maintain alignment instead of a backrest.

Key Differences in Performance

1. Spine and Pelvic Alignment

- Traditional: The 90-degree angle forces the pelvis to roll backward. This flattens the natural lumbar curve, requiring a lumbar support pillow to artificially push it forward.
- Balans: Tilting the seat forward naturally tilts the pelvis forward. Your spine automatically assumes its healthy, S-shaped curve without requiring any back support.

2. Muscle Engagement vs. Fatigue

- Traditional: These chairs do the work for you. While comfortable over short periods, this passive relaxation can lead to muscle atrophy, weakness, and slouching over time.
- Balans: These chairs act as a subtle workout. Your core and back muscles must stay active to keep you balanced, improving strength and long-term stamina.

3. Circulation and Breathing

- Traditional: Sitting at a right angle compresses your diaphragm and restricts deep breathing. Heavy padding on the thighs can also pinch off blood flow to the lower legs.
- Balans: Opening the torso expands the chest cavity for better oxygen intake. Constant movement keeps the calves and legs pumping blood back up to the heart.

Which Setup is Better for Specific Situations?

Choose a Balans chair if:

- You suffer from lower back pain caused by slouching.
- You want to build core and spinal strength while working.
- Your workflow benefits from frequent movement and shifting.

Choose a traditional ergonomic chair if:

You already have severe knee or hip arthritis that makes kneeling painful.
Your desk setup requires highly adjustable armrests and neck support.

Which Varier chair is Right for You?

We tend to ask questions like:

How many hours do you sit each day?
Do you have lower back pain?
Do you work from home?
Are you a designer or creative professional?
Do you find it difficult to remain task focused when sitting?
Do you prefer to move while working?

Then we recommend one or two suitable models.

Extraneous cognitive load ... too much going on!!

Open space work & study spaces aren’t as productive as they’d like you to think …

Schools are putting walls back into open spaces having learned (pardon the pun) the hard way that students cannot focus on the task at hand in open plan spaces. Not inspired by Trump or East German government, but by listening to the people that use these spaces.

This social experiment which started in the 1980s promised openness … inclusiveness … has found to play into the hands of the loudest obstructive voices, undermining focus and contributions from the quieter, introverted majority of students. The loud mouths aren’t known for the highest quality nor volumes or output are they?

One cannot be connected to a space; a team; a task … if the space is ill-defined. You lose purpose. Your mind starts wandering. Productivity plummets.

Those of us immediately concerned by these open spaces were painted as prudes, conservatives … not with the current understandings of workplace or academic design. We all wondered how people would study and/or work in a space akin to a kid’s sports stadium on a Saturday morning. Hush, you dinosaurs: go back to your chalkboards and ink wells.

Spatial flexibility needs to be just that: open sometimes and intimate for other times.

Ever felt annoyed when a member of staff is checking their phone when you’re trying to establish purpose in a team meeting?

Maybe you’ve felt frustrated during junior sports and your player/child seem more interested in the fire engine driving past or the murder of crows squawking on a nearby light post than the insight/explanation their volunteer coach is providing?

Imagine the above issues triggered by this ‘extraneous cognitive load’ and them amplified with either diagnosed or undiagnosed individual neurodiversity. It is akin to pouring gasoline on a lit BBQ made of wood, charcoal and a few sticks of dynamite.

How many businesses are truly trying for their workspaces to be inclusive by reducing these unproductive, distracting, loud spaces?

Specifying standing desks for people that have trouble standing still? The same people unable to stop swiveling on expensive desk chairs or sitting on low, firm and deep sofas and/or designer pouffes to report on their project status in front of the rest of the team?

Hopefully, the changes we are seeing in high schools, where ‘well-being’ is a major priority post Covid lock-downs … starts being re-introduced to the workplace so that the quitter majority feel like they are welcomed.

#workplacedesign #neurodiversity #schooldesignawards #pedagogy #pedagogyspace #spatialflexibility #extraneouscognitiveload