School children benefit from revolutionary chair design

Are you sitting comfortably? For thousands of New Zealand children the answer to that question is now a resounding "yes", since the advent of a new-style school chair.

Designed by Hastings-based Furnware, the Bodyfurn desk and chair has cost more than $1 million to develop and has been owner Hamish Whyte's "baby" for three years.

Since coming up with an idea that "just had to be done", the company's research co-ordinator, Pat Kane, has measured about 20,000 students by age, ethnicity, year level, gender, height and weight.

Auckland designer Murray Pilcher used that information to come up with a revolutionary design that allows a fixed chair to bend and flex without using knobs or handles. Then came two years of classroom testing.

"We identified a serious need for improved design, an area largely neglected," Mr Whyte said.

Bodyfurn now makes six sizes of desk and chair, but because of the huge amount of data collected it knows that in most age groups two chair sizes will fit most students.

To find the chair that suits them, students measure themselves on a wall chart on the first day back at school. If someone is extra tall or extra small, other chair sizes are provided.

Though they cost $99 each, about double the price of standard chairs, the chairs seemed to have hidden benefits, Mr Whyte said.

"Feedback from teachers is that classrooms are cleaner, quieter and tidier because children pick their own chairs and take ownership of it, which gives them a feeling of responsibility."

Because the chairs are comfortable, children also fidget less and are easier to teach.

Since the chair went on sale in January, Bodyfurn has sold 15,000 desk and chair units in New Zealand.

Furnware started life in 1934 as Christie Industries and is New Zealand's biggest and oldest manufacturer of school furniture. It is also one of Hastings' oldest businesses, the proud holder of PO Box 1, in the city.

In 1975, the company was bought by Cyclone Industries, owned by Brierley Investments. After a few more changes of ownership, Mr Whyte and his wife bought Furnware in 1993 when the couple moved from Wellington to Hawkes' Bay.

Since 1993, the company has grown from 18 to 65 employees. Turnover last year was about $10 million and is expected to rise by up to 40 per cent this year.

The Furnware part of the business is still successfully producing school reception area, science laboratory and staff room furniture. The Bodyfurn brand is used only on things that were backed up by scientific testing, Mr Whyte said.

He is already developing a gas-lift version of the chair for offices and for some areas in high schools, such as IT rooms. They are also working on a teachers' resource centre.

The $250,000 spent protecting the company's intellectual property in Australia, the United States and Britain could be money well spent as it is about to export to those countries.

- NZPA