I think I can trace my fear of barber’s chairs back to early childhood, when I trembled at the thought of another buzz cut courtesy of the hair butchers at the neighborhood “Ivan’s.” Or perhaps the consternation is owed to a brief post-college foray into military-style cuts, the purveyor of which would spin me into position with an authoritarian flourish and then proceed to chain-smoke for the twelve minutes it took to give me the best close trim available in greater Denver. The cut worked for me at the time, but I never lost my trepidation at the prospect of the abrupt positional manipulations. And this is one reason, among many, for my admiration of Oliver Schick’s Sera Stool for FORMvorAT. In addition to being a slim, shiny, and clean-lined piece for the contract market, it puts the power to raise and lower (and spin) squarely in your beer-laden hands.

Sera. Designed by Oliver Schick.

This last scenario is likely because one of the principal applications for Sera is restaurant and bar seating; its stainless steel seat, shaft, and footrest make it eminently complementary for such venues and their frequent preference for glass and steel. Schick also envisions Sera for home use. Since the stool is height-adjustable, users can employ Sera for everything from a handy breakfast perch to an even handier task chair. In this regard, you might pair it with Konstantin Grcic’s 360 Degree Chair. Both have a contemporary, angular aesthetic and both call on the user’s natural tendency for dynamic positioning to make it ergonomically efficient. Sera is a bit ahead of the game, in fact, as concerns comfort: “the seat front and sides are rounded, making Sera very comfortable. The stem is height adjustable and the diagonal foot rest offers plenty of leg room.” And if glass and steel aren’t your particular cup of tea, Sera comes with a range of colors and finishes for seat and base.

Via Daily Icon.