A Hastings company works flat out to meet the hot demand for its school chairs.
Chris Gardner reports. 18 February 2005

Article reprinted with kind permission Hawkes Bay Today.

Are you seated comfortably? Then we will begin with Furnware, an established Hastings furniture manufacturer which is taking the school market by storm.

Having manufactured traditional school furniture for decades the Omahu Road company went back to the drawing board for its new range of Dynamic Bodyfurn chairs and tables, which have sold so well since they were launched late last year that the factory has been working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to meet demand since November.

Managing director and owner Hamish Whyte said the company had already sold as many units in a few months as they expected in a year, but would not be drawn on the number involved.
Keen on developing a new brand for the company, which also makes high-end furniture for Harvey Norman, Mr Whyte asked Auckland designer Murray Pilcher to come up with a new school furniture design.

"He asked how big the students were, and we didn't know,'' Mr Whyte said.

Research co-ordinator, Pat Kane, a former teacher, was sent back to school for the world's largest posture study in 20 years. He wanted to see how the tried-and-true design, which had not changed for half a century, could be improved on, so he set about visiting scores of schools across the country to ask principals and teachers about their needs.

With support from economic development minister Jim Anderton and education minister Trevor Mallard, Mr Kane recorded the height, weight, and ethnicity of 19,000 of the country's 770,000 students, across the age groups.

In Auckland, at Mt Roskill Grammar School, he discovered 73 ethnicities studying under one roof. Hawke's Bay was not so varied. At Napier Boys High School, where Furnware trialed its wares, 74 percent of the 1054 boys were of European origin, 21 percent were Maori, 2 percent were Pacific Islanders and 1 percent were Asian.

At Hastings Girls High School, 53 percent were of European descent, 34 percent were Maori, 4 percent were Samoan and 2 percent were Indian. Cook Islanders, Tongans, Pacific Islanders, Chinese and other Asians made up the rest.

The research revealed huge variances in the height of pupils in the same year groups, as well as a variance between the races, although Mr Kane said it did not qualify him to speak up on obesity in schools.

"What surprised me was the size of the kids, as they were a lot taller than I thought,'' he said.

"You and I can be the same age, but quite different,'' Mr Whyte said.

The solution was to come up with seven different-sized chairs designed for pupils from .95m tall to 1.850m. Mr Pilcher designed the chairs with ski-like legs, pivoting seats and pivoting backs.
He said the chair's pivoting components encouraged positive movement while sitting, correct sitting positions, improved attention span while learning, was comfortable for long periods and reduced back and neck pain.

It also improved overall student health, reduced fidgeting by pupils and humanised classroom furniture with a a modern look.

At first the company hoped the chairs would retail at between $35 and $45 each, but the cost of what eventually rolled off the production lines was twice that, since the product was shaped and ventilated using a strong, graffiti proof, polypropylene seat and back mounted on a high tensile steel frame.

Like the school chairs of the past, the chair was designed to stack and can comfortably rest on a desktop.

Colour consultant Ann Poulsen was also brought in to recommend the seat and back colours that would encourage learning, coming up with light green and violet for the younger children and charcoal and light blue for older students.

The furniture was then subjected to two years' rigorous testing in the classroom, as well as being whacked with a sledgehammer, to ensure that it could withstand all sorts of abuse. It comes with a 10-year guarantee.

"Dynamic means movement,'' Mr Whyte said.

"If you are stuck in one position you are not as comfortable."

Those teachers who had trialed the furniture claimed classrooms were much quieter, while an NCEA marker had raved about them due to their comfort.

While Furnware has outfitted all the classrooms at three new Auckland schools, Canterbury Symphony Orchestra has also put in an order for a set of seats and Mr Whyte is considering expanding the business. Within 18 months, the company, which is currently negotiating a licensing agreement with an unnamed US firm, is likely to expand beyond its current premises, he said.

For the first year, the company will produce products for the American market, but will relinquish that opportunity once the licensing agreement kicks in.