I'm looking for contact information for a company that will customize
the famous Herman-Miller Aeron Chair so it can be used comfortably at
a counter-height (36"-high) desk. The company should take the existing
Aeron Chair and modify it in an organic way to achieve this increased
height. Most likely, it will mean putting in a taller pneumatic pole.
The resulting chair should have arms and a back, some kind of
attractive attached foot rest, and be safe at that height (i.e. it
won't tip over). I am only interested in purchasing one chair, so I am
not interested in contact information for a company that will only
deal with larger quantities.

To be clear, I am specifically NOT looking for chairs that are SIMILAR
to the Aeron Chair or other counter-height chairs or stools, and I
won't pay for advice that leads to anything other than the specific
answer to the specific problem above. Can you tell I was been burned
by Google Answers once before? ;-)  Thanks in advance for your help.

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Request for Question Clarification by voila-ga on 04 Feb 2003 15:13 PST

Hello jboyden,

Just to be clear, have you contacted Herman Miller directly to see if
they'd make these modifications to your chair?  I'm no design whiz but
unless you're of very slight build, wouldn't this put an undue amount
of weight on the pneumatic pole?  I have an Aeron chair and measured
the pole circumference at only 4 inches.

As a suggestion, you might be in touch with the engineering dept. at
Grand Valley State College in Michigan as they've done previous
engineering projects for Herman Miller and are familiar with its
design.

http://www.engineer.gvsu.edu/srprj99/hmi99 
http://www.gvsu.edu
http://www.hermanmiller.com

I wish I could help you further but I'm at a loss.  I'm sorry you've
been burned at Google Answers but some questions don't really have a
satisfactory answer.  We're doing our best, I assure you.

Kindest regards,
V

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Clarification of Question by jboyden-ga on 04 Feb 2003 17:08 PST

Hi, sorry I hope you don't think I was trashing Google Answers. I
wouldn't be using it if I didn't think it was an amazing service. I
just learned the hard way that you have to be really specific about
what you're looking for and what you're not looking for. In answer to
your question, I have not contacted Herman-Miller directly. I have a
friend who distributes HM furniture who says HM manufactured some
chairs with taller pneumatic tubes a few years ago on a special order
with Bose, but they haven't made any since. I was hoping there's be
some enterprising funiture guy out there that could swap the pneumatic
pole with a taller one made by a third party.

Jboyden,

It takes a little digging on the Herman Miller site, but their design
engineers do emphasize a flexibility in design.

It couldn't hurt to contact them and ask if they've got a design for a
taller chair.

On their site, look at:
http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/category/business/0,1244,c240,00.html

Good luck!
Serenata