Over at The Engine, talk has turned to chairs.

No, really.

Artist Simon Fraser started the unlikely conversation by talking about his new studio:

“Basic equipment that’s going in includes, My A0 Drawing board, My PC and whatever cheapo desk I can find to put it on. I need chairs, has anyone had any experience with those kneeling chair things? I saw one in Office Max for $50…seems worth a try. I also saw a drawing table chair that looked a bit like a Bicycle saddle on a pole, it seems to push the user right over onto the drawing board. I think this might be a good thing as comfort tends to be my enemy when drawing. Distraction is his willing daemonic helper, so anything that keeps me focused is good.Anything else anyone can recommend?”

Watchmen/Green Lantern Corps/Big E legend Dave Gibbons is the first to chime in:

“Spend as much money on a chair as you can afford. You’re going to be spending a third of your life on it! I bought an H.A.G. chair about twenty years ago and it’s given me all those years of comfort. Expensive, but better value than three or four cheap chairs… However, it’s finally getting a bit past it and I’m thinking of replacing it with an Aeron chair. Anybody out there have one?”

Mark Sweeney has an answer:

“I have a Herman Miller Mirra - a step below the Aeron. Cost $1,200 CDN. Best investment. Ever. For anyone who balks at the price…. just remember, a *good* mattress for your bed runs $1,000-$1,500, for which you spend 6-8 hours a day on. My chair gets me through 18-20 hour days (thankfully, I have far fewer of them now). When I first got this chair, I was in the middle of a massive six-week work marathon, flatting three 22-page books, two 48-page books back-to-back, and coloring 26 pages. That six week period also had Christmas and New Years smack dab in the middle of it. I was in a fair amount of pain, using an ice-pack on my back several times a day, putting cooling gel on it, and seeing the chiropractor twice a week since I was hunched over my computer for 18-20 hour days for almost three weeks. I got my new Herman Miller Mirra the last Friday of the year. Within a day, I no longer needed an ice pack on my back, or the cooling gel, and went to seeing the chiropractor once in two weeks, instead of twice a week… I was spending $150-200 a year on new chairs [before I bought this chair]. the Mirra comes with a 12-year warranty. That’s not a typo… Twelve Year Warranty.”

Trust Lucifer/Chosen artist Peter Gross to put things in perspective, however:

“I’ve had an Aeron chair for years and I love it–realized it’s way better to spend the money on a good chair rather than a good drawing table. It’s worthwhile to get the more expensive one that’s more adjustable and check their size chart and go larger. I traded my medium in for a large even though the size chart indicated I’d be fine with a medium. And it’s sort of freaky the first time you fart while you’re sitting in it.”

Chairs, ladies and gentlemen. They’re where your ass is at.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 29th, 2006 at 1:53 pm and is filed under Creators, Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.