BILL Stumpf was brutally candid about Aeron, his latest progeny, last week: 'It was perceived as ugly when it first came out.' But before anyone calls Social Services to report Stumpf for mental cruelty to his offspring, Back Bites must add that Aeron is a chair. Not just any chair, but possibly the most comfortable and politically-correct chair in the world.
Stumpf and partner Don Chadwick designed Aeron for the Herman Miller office furniture company on the understanding they were to come up with a chair that took account of variations in size and shape of the different sexes and races, as well as being environmentally-friendly.
At Herman Miller's Wan Chai offices Stumpf, who flew in from the US for Aeron's launch at The Peninsula, said: 'There has been a mini-revolution in seat design. Before, all the body measurements have been Westernised and biased to the male gender because formerly males dominated the work force.' Most office furniture were built to suit men 1.75 metres tall and weighing 79 kilograms - the average size of the Western male. Aeron, available in three sizes for between $4,000 and $6,000, can accommodate both ultra-petite women who barely reach 45 kilos when dripping wet, and tall, strapping hulks more than twice that weight. Stumpf says a radical new woven fabric covering the back and the seat supports the body no matter what the posture, and stops heat from building up against one's backside.
If theorising about human posture, a study known as anthroprometrics, sounds arcane, Stumpf points out the spread of cars, planes and even computers means we are all sitting down rather more than our parents did.
Tang sounds off HONG KONG'S celebrated cigar smoker David Tang was in philosophical mode last week at a smart dinner, observing: 'It is easier to commit incest than to smoke a cigarette or a cigar in America nowadays.' His tart remark was warmly received since the Ritz-Carlton dinner was thrown by the magazine Cigar Aficianado. The gathering was also attended by photographer Lord Lichfield, upmarket London club owner Mark Birley, Cuba's ambassador to China, Jose Guerra Menchero and Felix Jiminez, head of the La Corona cigar factory in Cuba.
Highlight of the evening was an auction of four boxes of prize Havana cigars in aid of the Cuban Medical Relief charity. David Lowe led the bidding by paying $150,000 for 100 Lusitanias and $60,000 for 50 double coronas, while Gerald Godfrey bid $88,000 for another batch of 50 double coronas.
In between, Tang's verbal flow continued unabated. He singled out Adolf Hitler as one of history's better-known anti-smokers - 'It's no wonder he lost the war.' Observing the clocks were forward in Australia, Tang added: 'It's the only thing the Australians are ahead of us in - time.' Jack vs the PC police JACK Edwards' hopes of becoming a best-selling author in the United States have been put on hold after a Californian publishing company refused to distribute paperback copies of his account of his brutal wartime captivity at the hands of the Japanese.
