Duke Procurement Services has established agreements with the following vendors for furniture purchases. Our preferred furniture suppliers have been selected based on their commitment to Duke University & Duke Medicine. By using these agreements, departments gain access to deeply discounted pricing and a dedicated support team. Duke’s furniture program offers an array of products – everything from chairs and desks to ergonomic keyboard trays and workstations. The program ensures that Duke receives the best price available. The following agreements should be the primary sources for supply on contracted furniture: Furniture for Duke University PMC Commercial Interiors (Formerly Price Modern) 3000 Perimeter Park Drive Carolina Business Interiors (CBI) (A Knoll Dealer) W 919 695 4301 M 919 302 6652 Storr Office Environments (Authorized Steelcase Dealer) 10800 World Trade Blvd. Furniture for Duke Medicine Herman Miller Healthcare (Distributed through Alfred Williams)
Furniture, Office Furniture, Office Design, Delivery, and Installation How To Use These Contracts: Call or email request to appropriate vendor To obtain a quote, call or e-mail the dealer. Dealer will apply appropriate contract discounts. Duke University Herman Miller Store Discount Program Duke Medicine has partnered with Herman Miller to offer Duke Employees a special purchase program of products directly from Herman Miller at a discounted rate. Employees receive a 15% discount on all regular priced products available at the Herman Miller Store. The Herman Miller Store offers a wide selection of working, living and dining furniture for your home. The store features an interactive product configurator, full customer service support, delivery to all 50 states and supports all major credit cards. Standard delivery for most products includes a scheduled in-home delivery appointment. An additional White Glove delivery option is available that includes delivery to any room in your home, light setup/installation and removal of packaging.
They are currently advertised on the PERQs discount webpage. For general inquiries, please contact Lisa Evans.The SAYL Chair Really Is "The Best for the Most for the Least" (Product Review) SAYL Chair at a Herman Miller 1952 desk model 4658. Image Credit Emma AlterOffice chairs are a difficult design problem. Herman Miller's classic Aeron chair has been a hit for over a decade, but it costs nearly a thousand bucks and is rarely seen outside of high end offices, although it was the darling perq of internet startups; there were even Aeron hockey tournaments. At the other end of the scale, crowding the aisles of Staples and Walmart, are the usual low end home office chair that had perhaps a height adjustment but not much else, that sell for well less than a tenth of that.Herman Miller's SAYL is designed by Yves Behar to sit in the middle: a beautiful, ergonomic chair made from sustainable materials at an affordable price. Image Credit Herman MillerThere are a couple of ways to make things cheaper: use cheaper materials, offshore production or just use less of everything.
The first two were not an option; the chair is made from safe and healthy materials and Cradle to Cradle certified, so PVC is out. Herman Miller makes most of its furniture in Michigan, and tries to limit it's offshore production to serve offshore markets.Image Credit Herman MillerYves Behar of Fuseproject went back to first principles and started taking things out. They call it eco-dematerialization- "Through design iteration, we reduced material use (and environmental footprint), without sacrificing durability or comfort." So the complex mechanisms of the chair back become the flexible mesh, stretched " a way that provided the greatest tension at points where support is needed and the least in areas that would allow for the most expansive range of motion." From the Fuseproject website:Image Credit Herman MillerBy rethinking every part of the chair, we were able to innovate the back structure and offer the first frameless suspension system. We sought to remove anything that was not necessary while still delivering a high level of performance and aesthetics.
We call the resulting products eco-dematerialised and attainable: lower carbon footprint (30% lighter) and lower retail cost thanks to materials and assembly savings. But you can still adjust height, depth, tilt, arms and more.Image credit Kelly RossiterI do not use an office chair; I have a standing desk. However my wife does, and I asked her for her comments: I remember many years ago my husband gave me an office chair as a birthday present. It is akin to receiving a vacuum cleaner as an anniversary gift - a bad idea. Having said that, I think I'd be pretty happy to receive this Herman Miller chair. There are so many ways to adjust it that it's quite easy to make it fit you properly. You can get your back right up against the mesh for support and it's comfortable enough to sit in all day. I have been known to just put my feet up and read while I'm sitting in it. The back also tilts back quite far so you can get a good stretch if you are too busy to get up and walk around. The only downside to this chair is that the cat loves it too, and I occasionally have to wrestle him out of it to get my work done.
It's somewhere in between.The SAYL doesn't have all the controls of an Aeron. Its appearance takes a bit of getting used to, but it grows on you.But the real wonder of it is that they deliver an American-made chair built to Cradle to Cradle Silver standards that starts at $ 399. It is more than a chair; it is a different approach to design that Charles Eames used to practice, delivering "The Best for the Most for the Least." It demonstrates that you don't have to make something out of crap in China to be competitive, you just have to design it better.More at Herman MillerMore on Herman Miller:Watch Herman Miller Build an Eames Lounge Chair (Slideshow ...What Is The Future Of The Office? Can Boomers and Millenials Mix?LifeEdited Circa 1945: George Nelson's Storage Wall for Life MagazineHerman Miller's GreenHouse Factory Generates 15 Pounds of Landfill Waste Per MonthFollow me on Twitter! @lloydalter and friend me on FacebookEnter the characters you see below Sorry, we just need to make sure you're not a robot.