Diffrient Smart Chair

Featuring Humanscale’s weight-sensitive, mechanism-free recline, Smart automatically adjusts to the body weight of each sitter to provide perfect recline support. Using the laws of physics, all the user has to do is sit and the chair will provide the correct amount of tension for their shape.

Free of manual controls, Diffrient Smart has a striking, sleek aesthetic, and its U-shaped back makes it the perfect fit for any high-design environment. With linear lines in the backrest and strong mesh for maximum support, it’s the ideal task chair for the modern, active workspace.

To ensure every person who sits in Diffrient Smart would have perfect lumbar support, Diffrient created a tri-panel mesh backrest to automatically adapt to the user’s needs. Eliminating the need for complicated adjustments and external lumbar devices, Diffrient Smart uses Form-Sensing Mesh technology for easy, ongoing comfort.

Niels Diffrient's designs are grounded in the philosophy that form follows function. His work has spanned generations, consistently looking past trends to reinvent the tools we use for daily living.

With an academic foundation in design and architecture and a degree from Cranbrook Academy, Diffrient channels his knowledge of engineering, architecture, and human factors into the creation of highly functional and aesthetically timeless designs.

From his early work with the studios of Eero Saarinen, Marco Zanuso, and Henry Dreyfuss to his current work with Humanscale, Diffrient's visionary talent has been widely recognized. Included among his many honors are the 2002 National Design Award from the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, and the 1999 Chrysler Design Award. In recent years, Diffrient had focused his energies on designs for the office environment, particularly seating — a category in which he has pioneered numerous breakthroughs, from pneumatic cylinders for seat height adjustment to weight-activated automatic recline.

"As a result of seeking a really good adjustable arm, I was led in a direction that would allow me to do that in the best mechanical and serviceable way. That led me to the dominant visual feature of the chair... the horseshoe shaped aluminum support." Niels Diffrient, Designer.

Following the success of Liberty and Diffrient World, Niels Diffrient developed Diffrient Smart to offer a chair with strong visual features. He wanted to create a task chair that was in line with Humanscale’s philosophy of designing seating that is simple, beautiful and effortless to use. Diffrient Smart has straight, bold lines and a timeless horseshoe-shaped aluminum support, so its suit any environment it is placed in.