Anyone working in the tech industry or simply involved with technology is likely to spend more hours in front of a computer than is healthy for them. This is where the importance of a quality chair comes into play. Living in dorms for my first 2 years in college, I have finally come to appreciate using a regular chair now that I have my own place.
I remember those late nights working on school projects where I would quite literally be hunched over my desk in an uncomfortable wooden chair for more than 10 hours at a time.
I recently began looking into professional quality chairs for the business environment and couldn’t ignore the offerings from Herman Miller. (FYI, Herman Miller has a close competitor, Steelcase.) I’ve had several encounters with high-end Herman Miller chairs, but I really began to take notice when my hotel room in Sunnyvale, CA last summer had a Herman Miller Aeron.
The Aeron is by far Herman Miller’s best known chair as it has been out for over a decade. As such, I decided to take a look at the more recent Celle chair, released in 2005.
Basics
The Celle chair gets its name from the cellular suspension, made up of cells and loops, that makes up the bulk of the chair and provides ergonomic, responsive support regardless of your body type. Unlike padded chairs, the Celle’s unique cellular suspension allows individual cells to flex as necessary, conforming to your shape, weight and movement. While the entire chair back is made of this cellular suspension, different parts of it allow for varying amounts of flex.
While it may look like hard plastic, it is actually quite flexible.
The Celle chair can be configured with different types of upholstery or left with the cellular suspension backing, which lets air flow through easier.
Adjustability
The Celle excels when it comes to adjustability. If you don’t like something about the chair’s setup, you can change it. You can adjust seat height, seat depth, lumbar height, lumbar depth, forward tilt, tilt tension, tilt limiting, arm angle, arm height and arm width.
I have never owned a chair that let me alter seat depth and I thoroughly enjoy the Celle for that feature alone.
Feel
After using the Celle for about a week, I have become aware of its sturdy construction especially coming from using dorm chairs for years. While most of the chair is some form of plastic, there is a strong underlying metal framework.
My first impression of the chair was that it was hard (the actual seat). It’s now a week later and I have realized a few things. First off, this is a high-end, professional business chair. It’s not exactly marketed towards college kids lounging to watch movies on their computer. As such, the firmer feel goes in hand with the work-oriented demographic. To back that claim up, this article mentions how the left brain is associated with learning and is stimulated while you sit upright on a firm surface.
The seat bottom is large enough for me to sit Indian style. The seat depth/height can be adjusted enough to accommodate 95 percent of North American people according to Herman Miller.
I was concerned with the height of the arm rests as if they were too tall, I wouldn’t be able to bring the chair close to my relatively low desk. Fortunately, the arm rests are also easily adjusted.
If you’re not used to these types of work chairs, it will definitely be a different experience. I have grown to favor the Celle over overly-padded, support-lacking chairs.
Overall
The $450 – $630 (depending on options) Herman Miller Celle chair is a high-quality chair ideal for the new age of startups, freelance developers and telecommuters that work from home and practically live in front of their computer. The Celle naturally adapts to your sitting style and body type with a unique cellular suspension while allowing for seemingly endless adjustability. However, some people might not be used to the firmer feel with this work-oriented chair.
The only complaint I have about the Celle is that it is not possible to lock it in a reclined position. While I don’t blame them as it’s not exactly a great posture position, I sometimes recline and type with my keyboard in my lap. However, the tilt tension can be set low enough to where this is almost not an issue for me.
Would I recommend this chair? If you’ve got the money and spend 8 hours per day or more in front of your computer, I would thoroughly consider trying the Celle. Another aspect to the Celle is that it’s a Herman Miller. Herman Millers are the BMW of chairs and carry pretty high street cred among the geekier crowds. You can be proud to sit in one of these. Speaking of which, what desk chair do you use?
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Sounds like a great chair for those of us who are on our can most of the day. Great review Paul!
I wish I had a desk…
Man, you had me sold until the price point. Although, an investment like this would probably be worthwhile years down the road in preventing (or delaying :P) arthritis and its friends.
is there a web retailer for herman miller?
Scott, you bring up a good point. It’s hard to find a Herman Miller retailer. I believe I’ve found the Celle on Amazon before.
Steelcase Leap. I bought 2 of them–one for home and one for the office–and haven’t ever regretted it.
Hey Paul, We do a ton of catering for Herman Miller so they sold us real cheap one of the older versions of the Celle. It is quite great. I have to recommend it. At first it took a while to get used to, but it never really feels like it is weariing out or breaking down.
Did you know… that Herman Miller invented the cubicle? That is a fact (or at least that is what my contact tells me).
Hi Paul. Your “indian style” link makes me a little nervous—snorg seems to be poking fun of the phrase with this t-shirt. Maybe you should update the link, or get some snorg sponsorship going on your sidebar. :)
Pricegrabber—cheapest around 450.
What about the arms—can you remove them or move them out of the way completely? I generally remove the arms from my chair because I can never fit under my desk correctly, or get the arms low enough so my elbows aren’t touching them when typing.
huh. I use: if I can find my desk under all the paper/junk/etc, an old swivel chair most likely rescued from the sidewalk. Or, I work at our dining room table with regular chairs, on the couch (either with or without the coffee table) in bed (a big no no for productivity.. but nice when it’s cold!), or on the floor.
That’s interesting about the left brain being simulated by sitting on a hard surface. Must remember that. :)
I had an Aeron chair at my last job, it was pretty comfy. Unfortunately my latest job uses the cheapest chairs they can find I think. I bought a chair from Office Depot for about 100 bucks for home which is surprisingly comfortable, but there aren’t many adjustments you can make on it.
One of these days I’ll have to get an elite Herman Miller chair again!
I got a Swopper a few months ago, and I’m very happy with it.
It’s – of course – without back rest.
Nice review Paul. So is this considered an upgrade, crossgrade, or downgrade from the Aeron?
I’ve got a $9 exercise ball from Walmart. It works great, and forces me to stay balanced and upright. The $400+ price differential is nice too, and I can use it during breaks for exercises too.
I own a Stokke Thatsit which I think it’s the best chair ever, but the HM looks great, too.
Hi Paul,
Great review on the Celle chair. I am not sure why anyone would have a hard time finding a Herman Miller retailer. I found mine http://www.homeofficesolutions.com with minimal search. I have an Aeron and a Celle, and my brother bought a Mirra. We are happy with all three models, but nothing beats the Aeron!
@Andrew – I believe the Aeron is still a higher step up from the Celle, even though the design is more than a decade old. The Aeron still costs more as well.
A few years ago I was in the market for a new chair. i tried them all…steelcase, herman miller and a few other lesser known but endorsed by stores specialized for people with back problems. I decided on the Aeron for the reasons of comfort and the fact that the material doesn’t get your butt all hot when you sit there for a longtime. Nothing is worse than sitting in a chair and the material just makes you rear all hot and gross. I’ve had the chair for about 2 years and could not be happier.
Hi Paul,
Where are you getting that much cash for a chair :P
I know what you mean about uni chairs though, our uni has a single supplier so the one in my office is the same as the ones in my home and they are not very comfortable. This chair looks really good as it can be customised in so many ways to be for the individual. I am going to check it out and see if i can pick one up in the UK somehow.
Dave
@David – it was supplied by Herman Miller
Paul how do you manage to get all these? :)
David: He’s got well over 5,000 readers, that’s how. :)
I bought an Aeron right before I enrolled at Gatech. I somewhat regret it. I had one at my previous job and for some reason, whether the desk setup or the chair itself, it was much better than what I have now. I just can’t seem to get a good fit. I’m thinking of selling it and trying out the Celle.
@Paul: Although I regularly read your blog (via RSS), I happened upon your review via a Google search for reviews of Herman Miller chairs.
For about eight years now, I’ve been sitting on a cheapo fabric covered task chair with no arms. At this point, the seat’s padding is almost non-existant, and I can feel the bolts and my skin rolling around my pelvis while sitting on this chair.
On this past Sunday night my dad ordered (though I’m paying for it) the Celle Loaded chair. I did a little bit of reading a link following and happened upon the Celle, and ended up buying the graphite-colored model from CSN Chairs.com.
Both Herman Miller and CSN Chairs have convinced me that it’s a great buy. My dad tells me that any fancy chair can be comfortable as long as it is adjusted properly.
Aside: I was hoping to buy a MacBook (the 2.1 GHz Core 2 Duo base model) with the money I’m spending on the Celle. However, after Apple’s recent announcements, I realized that I would have regretted buying it before this year.
Stop the presses! Right before I was about to submit this comment, the UPS guy came! I spent about half of an hour setting this thing up – now it’s wonderful! I’ll put up a review and trackback to you in about two weeks or so.
I am fortunate enough to work for a progressive company which values employees enough to fork out $650 for a work chair. I never realized how uncomfortable my executive chair was until I sat in the Celle chair. I have had it for just over a month and would by my own if the company decided to send it back. One thing though, it does take a week or so to have your body adjust to the support. You might have an slight ache at first but, now I have neve felt better and no longer suffer from the lower back pain I’ve dealt with for nearly 15 years. Get one. Pay for it yourself if you have to. You will thank me.
@Paul: I took another look at the photos in the post, and saw that yours has a forward tilt option – it seems mine doesn’t have that. Is that feature any good?
After going to a local Herman Miller dealer and trying out both the Celle and the Aeron, I decided without hesitation to go with the Aeron. The hard plastic ‘cellular suspension’ is one of the most unforgiving surfaces I’ve ever sat in. While it has great ergonomics, I could not imagine sitting in this for long hours without fatigue of hard plastic nubs on my back and seat. A fully loaded Celle was $630 while a full loaded Aeron was $850, the extra $220 for comfortable Pellicle material is well worth the extra expense. When you are spending this much for a chair, and it will last you for at least 12 years (Herman Miller’s warranty is pretty amazing) it is totally worth it.
Great article. No matter what I search for I always end up finding the best review on your website.
Keep up the great work brother,
David
Thanks David! If you can spot the extra change I’d recommend the HM Embody. I sat in it once and didn’t want to leave. But then again spending $1500+ on a chair is the equivalent of dropping like $400k on a car haha.
also might be relevant to your interests: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001146.html