March 20, 2024

My company provides employee benefits annually that I can put towards things such as technology, ‘lifestyle’, ISAs, medical care etc. This year I decided to put all of my £500 (before tax) towards a better task chair for home. To mitigate the discomfort of aging joints my wife had previously bought a Steelcase Gesture at great expense for her rented office, loves it, and now it felt like a good time to upgrade at home too.

Even buying refurbished chairs, a Steelcase would have burst the budget so I ordered a Håg Capisco with leather upholstery in near mint condition from a company called Corporate Spec.

I’ve briefly tried a Capisco before and it’s a funny-looking chair with a ‘saddle’ in place of a seat and appears to encourage movement rather than just sitting still. The saddle and oddly shaped back are designed to allow the ‘rider’ to face the wrong way round, facing into and leaning on, the back of the chair. After a couple of weeks of use I’ve decided I love the design and it has turned out to be a good choice! It is not a chair for sitting-in for hours, say for meetings and video calls, as it is a task chair for writing and working.

This chair was always going to be a shared resource, particularly as my wife suffers more from joint pain and so it appears one unintended consequence is that the chair is often in use elsewhere when I would make use of it, and I need to downgrade to a basic dining chair. The Capsico’s predecessor having been been donated to The Trainee Psychologist at her university. Clearly it’s a success.

A few pros, cons and features to be aware of…

pros

• Incredibly well-made.

• Comfortable but be aware you sit on it and not in it.

• The adjustments provide for lost of customisation. Height, back height, seat tilt and tension, seat reach etc.

cons

• My daughter pointed out that the saddle design encourages ‘man spreading’. Not too much of a problem in this house but worth being aware of.

• The standard gas strut and design means the top of the seat sits quite high — roughly 19” at its lowest and goes all the way up to 27” which is practically standing height. I am 5’ 10” and I have to have the strut nearly at the bottom of its travel. For those who are much shorter than that it might be worth trying the shorter gas strut.

features

• There are no arm rests but I find that I often lean back and rest my elbows on the protrusions that stick out each side of the back rest.

Design


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