What did you have in mind?
Trade terms for professionals and design studios
Between 2000 and 2003 Open Up collected five design awards: the red dot Design Award in 2000, the iF product design award in 2001, a silver at Best of NeoCon in 2001, the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2002 and the Baden-Württemberg International Design Award in 2003. Juries in two countries and one American trade show reached the same conclusion within three years of each other.
What they were recognising was not a shape. Until then a high back and armrests were read as a badge of rank in the corporate office; Sedus put the same comfort into an executive chair whose lines follow the body rather than announce a job title. The backrest is suspended and dorsokinetic, the Similar mechanism opens the recline to 45 degrees, and the whole thing still gets built at the company's plant in Dogern, Germany.
For a US corner office — and the meeting chairs beside it — the practical translation is simple: a design that has been judged, awarded and then kept in production for twenty-six years. La Mercanti handles specification, ordering and delivery coordination for clients across the United States.
Model: Open Up, Sedus Stoll AG — design Mathias Seiler, 2000
Awards: red dot Design Award 2000 · iF product design award 2001 · Best of NeoCon 2001, silver · Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany 2002 · Baden-Württemberg International Design Award 2003
Versions: up-100 low backrest · up-103 high backrest with headrest · open up modern classic · conference chair · cantilever chair, stackable up to 5 · counter version
Mechanism: Similar mechanism with tension control, lockable in 5 positions; optional 4° forward seat tilt; dorsokinetic backrest; backrest inclination approx. 35°, recline up to 45°
Adjustment: height-adjustable lumbar support · headrest adjustable for height and angle · sliding seat with 2.4 in travel · seat with 1.2 in extra depth · 3D armrests adjustable for height, depth and rotation, with soft-touch, gel or leather pads
Upholstery: membrane or padded backrest, slim padding or quilted leather; modern classic in aniline-tanned, grained and unembossed leather; fabrics certified to OEKO-TEX Standard 100
Structure: five-star die-cast aluminium base, powder-coated or polished; twin castors Ø 2.6 in with load-dependent braking; gas lift with mechanical depth-springing, EN 16955 class 4
Load and weight: up to 265 lb · 46 lb for up-103 excluding packaging
Materials: metals 59.3%, plastics 28.1%, wood 6.9%, fibreglass 4.0% · recycled content 46.39% · recyclability 99%
Durability: 10-year guaranteed repairability · 5-year guarantee under Sedus warranty terms
Production: Sedus Stoll AG, Dogern, Germany, using 100% green electricity; ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001, ISO 45001
Certification: TÜV Rheinland GS to DIN EN 1335 · TÜV Rheinland Ergonomics Approved · Quality Office · GREENGUARD (UL 2818) · life cycle assessment to DIN EN 15804 · REACH compliant
Let us know which finishes you'd like to explore
That is what it was built for. The load rating is 120 kg, the gas lift meets EN 16955 class 4 with mechanical cushioning at the bottom of its travel, and the Similar mechanism can be locked in five positions so the chair is not permanently rocking. The point of the wide recline is not lounging: it is that a chair used for eight hours should allow more than one working posture.
Open Up carries GREENGUARD certification under UL 2818 for the up-100 and up-103 models, which sets limits on chemical emissions for furniture used indoors, and the upholstery fabrics are certified to OEKO-TEX Standard 100. For projects pursuing indoor-environment credits this is the documentation that gets attached, and La Mercanti provides the current certificate with the quote.
Yes. The chair can be specified with no armrests at all, with standard polyamide armrests, or with 3D armrests that adjust in height, depth and rotation. The pads themselves come in soft-touch, gel or leather. In an open-plan floor the armrest choice usually comes down to whether the chair has to slide under the worksurface at the end of the day.
Sedus guarantees repairability for ten years, and the covers are not glued in place, so upholstery, castors and the gas lift are serviceable items rather than reasons to buy a new chair. In an office of fifty seats that distinction changes the cost of ownership more than the purchase price does.
There is: a conference version and a cantilever chair on a chromed or powder-coated steel frame that stacks up to five high, plus a taller counter version. They share the backrest language and the upholstery range with the swivel chair, so a floor can be specified in one pass instead of matching three manufacturers.
The corner office is the easy part. Five steps to specify a whole floor so it still looks deliberate when the last chair arrives.
Private offices, boardroom, huddle rooms, reception, counter positions. Each has a different seating duty, and a family that covers all of them prevents the patchwork that shows up in photographs.
Leather in the offices that receive visitors, fabric or membrane in the working rooms. Deciding this at the start stops the budget from being consumed by the first three chairs.
Polished aluminium, powder-coated black or light aluminium: choose once and repeat. Mixed bases are the quickest way to make a coordinated floor look accidental.
Growth is the normal case. Record the exact specification, including fabric reference and armrest type, so an addition in two years matches instead of approximating.
They are the pieces most likely to change after a sample sits in the room. La Mercanti sequences deliveries so the working floor is installed while the final leather choice is still open.
