MISURA

As a designer & violinist myself, having interviewed many professional orchestral musicians & operations staff across Australia, it became very apparent that with all the constant frustrations that musicians & staff experienced whilst using the static non-adjustable chairs that current seating options in concert & rehearsal venues had many unresolved problems. The brief was to design a fully adjustable orchestral chair that is lighter, slimmer, quieter, easily stackable, more elegant & able to be easily adjusted with one hand. MISURA chairs are designed to be used by professional orchestral musicians in concert halls, rehearsal venues, small studios or even at home for private instrumental practice.

Hidden from external view, housed inside the seat are innovative gear mechanisms that allow the chair to fully adjust to suit the musician by simply turning the side handles. By carefully considering the materials, MISURA is able to be a lighter chair, quieter in adjustments & with a new form not only does it look elegant for a concert venue, it is much slimmer than other orchestral chairs making it easily stackable. Unlike any other adjustable chair, MISURA can be adjusted with just one hand, this is important as musicians will always be holding an instrument in their other hand.

Due to the high physiological demands that orchestral musicians face, over 50% of musicians in Sydney’s leading orchestras experience musculoskeletal injuries. In order to reduce the chances of injuries occurring, a crucial area to look into are the chairs that orchestral musicians sit on during rehearsals and performances. Chairs such as MISURA have the ability to positively influence the overall physiological health of musicians. There are zero welds on MISURA, all parts are designed to be screwed in place. This means that the majority of the parts can be easily replaced, repaired or taken apart at its end of life.

On the right side of MISURA, the front & back handles change the height of the front & back legs. These handles are connected to a thread which is internally housed in the seat frame. This thread has nylon dies which connect to a spring-type part, the spring part connects directly to the internal leg. As you turn the handle, the rotating thread causes the nylon die to move left and right, pushing out the internal leg which raises and lowers the chair legs. Connected to the backrest is a rack & pinion worm drive gear set. Rotational motion of the left handle translates directly to the linear motion of the back rest. The backrest height can easily be adjusted with one hand. Simply push the centre lower panel to release and lock it to your selected height. To reduce noise from the gears, the addition of nylon gear parts are used to reduce the chances of the metal grinding on metal. All chair handles are able to be magnetised to the bottom of the seat, this keeps the handles free from obstruction when people walk past and allows the side profile of the chair to remain seamless on stage and during transportation.