Project W

Rich results, when Google searched Womens chairs, ergonomic chairs

Since the introduction of the first Office Chair, the design process of the chair has been structured to suit the anthropometrics of men. For this reason, “normal” chairs aren’t suitable for over 25% of women, the chair is either too tall, the seat depth is too long which cuts off circulation, it doesn’t have suitable lumbar adjustability and has a generic back.

Project W is the most important advancement in chair design in the last 20 years revolutionising seating for over 50% of the population. Designed by an extraordinary group of women with backgrounds in engineering, marketing, product assembly and procurement across the industry. This chair is designed to suit 99.9% of women, (sorry Lauren Jackson) and 99% of men.

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DESIGNED BY WOMEN

Over the last 20 years the average office worker has changed significantly. With labour participation rates in women increasing
to account for 47% of Australia’s workforce, the office chair should’ve changed to suit this.

Smaller staff, that account for 25% of the workforce and are primarily female, have been told to organise the purchase of “special” chairs to cater for their needs. Over the past 10 years, Gregory has sold an abundance of petite chairs to this market, but when a quarter of the workforce is made to purchase petite chairs there is something very wrong with chair design.

The seed of PROJECT W was a discussion between Gregory’s female employees who felt that the current “normal” for office chairs was no longer suitable. Gregory decided to bring together an extraordinary group of females with backgrounds across engineering, marketing, product assembly, science and procurement to bring office chair design into the future.

Project W is what they came up with.

THE CHAIR

Gregory has been the Australian leader in ergonomic chairs since 1977. Project W is the most important advancement in chair design in the last 20 years revolutionising seating for over 50% of the population, redefining the standard in an office.

Due to the changes in demographics across Australian, the nation’s height average has decreased annually since 1970 with a 6cm difference between national averages in 1970 and 2020. The average Australian female is now 5ft3 and the average Australian male is 5ft8. Many women below 5ft5 find difficulty adjusting their office chair so they can be seated comfortably and maximising the ergonomic benefits of the chair.

Project W’s patented seat technology features a shorter seat depth of 380mm which is 70-80mm shorter than the average ergonomic office chair (but still wide). This new depth suits users who are up to 6ft3. The distribution of weight on a seat with a shorter depth is unchanged, 85% of a seated persons weight is through the ischial tuberosities ‘sitting bones’ while the other 15% is through the legs and knees. This optimised seat depth combats the issues with circulation cut off associated with users with shorter legs. The steep waterfall slope aids with circulation in both average and shorter users.

The Project W seat features Gregory’s patented Dual Density foam with new additional Coccyx relief system. Research conducted by Gregory indicated many female users experienced coccyx issues following child birth. And most women are not properly supported by the “regular” office chair, particularly in keyboarding. Additional adjustable lumbar support has been added due to feedback received from the research conducted by Gregory for Project W.

Project W features a modern sculpted back to support the thoracic spine and under the shoulder blades which reduces up to 12% of the neck strain. Project W features fully adjustable seat tilt, back tilt with flexible mobility with full lumbar and is height adjustable.

THE STATISTICS

Gregory conducted research and used a female focus group to create Project W. Our female design team used the ideas brought up within the focus group to bring to life this project.

The national height average for Australia has changed significantly in the last 50 years due to Australia’s changing demographics. Larger changes in height averages were experienced in the years that coincided with increased migrancy. Australia has additionally experienced a significant increase in female workforce participation rates over this same period. Australia’s workforce has shrunk significantly in height since 1970 and this has not been accounted for in office chair design.