Vintage Hille Meridio posturepedic chair designed by Michael Dye 1990

Hille was founded in 1906 by the Russian emigrant Salamon Hille and has a long and distinguished history in British furniture design. Perhaps best known for its association with designer Robin Day who worked with the company for over 20 years, the brand has produced numerous designs and worked with many designers including Charles Eames, Fred Scott and Michael Dye. The latter two contributed to the creation of the Meridio chair with Dye using Scott's Supporto chair as inspiration for the new chair created in 1990. It's a funny chair, there's no doubt about it: it looks like a cross between something you'd see on a film set of Alien and a carnal delight found in Mr Grey's basement; it's certainly not for everyone. It is, however, strangely beautiful, and this particular object is perhaps the best version of the chair you will ever see, with virtually unmarked black upholstery on polished aluminium. It is also very functional, as it has been designed to provide a medically correct sitting position when working at a desk, and its tilting base also allows fluid to move around the spine with a slight rocking motion. It goes without saying that you feel like you're attached to a device created by Mrs. Doubtfire when you first sit down, but anything that tells you about your posture is relatively uncomfortable at first. Moreover, it is a striking and unusual object in itself and benefits from the typically Anglophile tradition of making buttons and technical junctions, rather than the more international approach where the joints are hidden - this is certainly a subject for discussion . Seat height: 46 cm