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From Home Furnishing Business
Humanscale Receives 2021 Red Dot Design Award
April 19,
2021 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry 
Humanscale, a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance ergonomic office furniture, has received a Red Dot Award for its achievements in product design in the Office Chair category with Summa, the brand’s first executive conference chair celebrated for its elegant aesthetic and functionality.
As one of the most sought-after seals internationally, the Red Dot Award program evaluates products from all over the world. The international jury panel, composed of roughly 50 experts from a variety of design disciplines, scrutinizes the products, assessing each design’s formal quality, ergonomics and longevity. The jury ultimately selects those that demonstrate the highest levels of innovation and quality in design.
Over the last ten years, Humanscale has won eight Red Dot Awards for various designs including Trea, a multipurpose chair by designer Todd Bracher, and Infinity, a high-performance task light, reflecting the brand’s reputation for intuitive, timeless design.
“The winners of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2021 were particularly impressive this year. The design of their products is excellent, in terms of both the aesthetic and the functionality. It’s not easy to prevail in such a strong field of competitors and to win over our jury. Consequently, I want to congratulate the laureates very sincerely on their success,” said Professor Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of Red Dot.
Designed for today’s most dynamic leaders, Summa is a versatile leather conference chair suitable for the corner office, the boardroom, as well as the home office. Its enveloping shape and sculpted materials converge for a truly harmonious design that exudes luxury in every detail. Each chair is made-to-order and customized for its unique owner, hand-upholstered by craftsmen with a combined 175+ years of experience. A range of premium chrome-free leathers and wood finishes can be chosen from to match individual tastes for a truly custom chair. Expertly made, Summa boasts a defined aesthetic and sophisticated palette that elevates any work environment.
Summa’s refined design is made with both style and functionality in mind. It features a single, discrete height-adjustment lever and built-in armrests, which meld into the seat to provide seamless adjustment and comfort. Built with Humanscale’s signature weight-compensating recline mechanism, Summa provides critical ergonomic support to support daily comfort and long-term wellbeing.
Thoughtfully sustainable, Summa is made with Humanscale’s line of chrome-free leathers, which undergo a synthetic vegetable tanning method that eliminates the need for chromium, a harmful chemical that is used in most traditional tanning processes. This toxin-free upholstery option exceeds industry standards in performance and durability, making it a superior choice for end-users and the environment. Starting this month, Summa will also be available in Maribo, a soft and pliable semi-aniline chrome-free leather created to provide unbeatable comfort and durability while keeping an elegant quality to the leather.
Summa can be seen in the online exhibition on the Red Dot website from June 21, 2021. That date also marks the beginning of the Red Dot Design Week, during which this year’s award winners and Humanscale will be celebrated online. From June 22, 2021, Summa will also be included in the exhibition “Design on Stage” in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen, in Germany, where all of the award-winning products are showcased. The Red Dot Design Yearbook 2021/2022 comes out in August. The publication provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the art and trends in product design.