Searching for office furniture? yYou may have seen the best Herman Miller chairs and run away when you saw the prices. It's true that Herman Miller chairs are in a monetary league of their own, and that's enough to put many customers off immediately.
But before you head straight to the cheaper side of the best office chairs spectrum, consider this: a Herman Miller chair is bound to set you back oodles more than another office chair (which, let's face it, could look the same), but you get what you pay for. So if you want a chair to last a long time that's made from premium materials and are properly comfortable and supportive, it may be worth the initial outlay. Plus, they look amazing, too.
Herman Miller chairs come with a 12-year guarantee as standard, so you can be sure that the company expects its chairs to comfortably last a lot longer than that. So while you might save in the short term with a cheaper office chair, how many times will you have to replace it over the next 12 or more years? Suddenly that Aeron doesn't seem quite so wantonly extravagant.
Need some more advice? See our guides to how to choose an office chair and how to clean an office chair. Or if you're ready to think again about a Herman Miller chair, read on for our top picks, from quite expensive to terrifyingly pricey.
Best Herman Miller chairs in 2021
If you're considering a Herman Miller chair, chances are you're thinking about an Aeron. With its instantly recognisable – and much-copied – design it's a hugely desirable office chair, although the price tag is going to be enough to put most people off.
If you can afford it, however, it'll live right up to your expectations with strong ergonomic features that encourage a healthy posture, as well as fine control over the arms, seat height, depth, and recline. There are three sizes to choose from as well as three colour and four arm options, but remember that these will push the price up; check the Herman Miller site for all the details.
Inspired by the geometry of the Golden Gate Bridge suspension system, the Sayl office chair has all the hallmarks of a future design classic. Its striking Y-Tower armature and ventilated elastomer back not only look amazing but also give you plenty of spinal support as well as the room to stretch and move about, and its foam seat will keep you comfortable all day.
On top of the Sayl's bold colour options you can specify adjustable lumbar support, but bear in mind that this will knock the price up. If an Aeron's just a bit too rich for your tastes but you want a fine-looking and supportive chair, we reckon this is the perfect alternative.
The Herman Miller Mirra 2's name comes from the fact that it's designed to intuitively mirror your natural movements. Herman Miller compares it with a good running shoe, and it's a pretty apt comparison. Some might find it just a little unyielding, but if support matters most to you then it's a definite winner.
The Mirra 2 is responsive and supportive and allows your body to move, stretch and reach naturally, and its Harmonic 2 tilt proves a balanced feel when you recline the chair. It has two back options, a flexible TriFlex back or an ultra-responsive Butterfly back, its woven seat distributes your weight evenly and allows air circulation, and it comes in a range of great-looking colourways.
Herman Miller describes the Embody as an office chair for those who take sitting seriously, so you know it means business. If your work involves sitting down all day, the Embody is built to make it a lot easier on your body.
It features a backfit adjustment so that you can tune the chair to your spine, a smooth tilt that mimics your natural pivot points, and a seat with four breathable layers for comfort and airflow. Designed with experts in biomechanics, vision, physical therapy, and ergonomics, it's the ultimate healthy sitting option.
Available in three back heights, the Herman Miller Cosm is designed to adjust itself to provide you with optimum support. It features Herman Miller's Auto-Harmonic tilt mechanism that automatically gives you the balanced support and movement you need, based on your body and posture, and its seat and back are combined into a breathable and temperature-neutral Intercept Suspension that conforms to your body to provide dynamic spinal support.
There are three arm options – fixed-height, height-adjustable and leaf – and multiple colour options; we particularly love the Cosm's 'dipped-in' look, which means it's the same colour from top to bottom.
If price is your priority when you're after a Herman Miller chair, you won't find anything cheaper than the Lino. It's a minimal, no-nonsense option that looks a lot more like a traditional office chair than most Herman Millers, and while it lacks the advanced features of the Aeron or Embody, it's still impressive, comfortable and supportive.
It has adjustable arms and seat depth so that you can find your perfect sitting position, it has a breathable suspension back that gives you full spinal and lumbar support, and it comes in a wide range of colour, material and finish options so that you can ensure that your Lino fits in with your office décor perfectly.
Herman Miller has a small range of gaming chairs, and top of the pile is this souped-up Embody Gaming chair, designed in association with Logitech G. It's largely identical to the standard Embody; the big functional difference is an extra layer of foam in the seat, making it more suitable for extended gaming sessions (or late night deadline sessions, for that matter), as well as additional cooling technology.
It comes in all-black or black with highlights in Logitech G cyan, and while most gamers would probably balk at the price tag, it would make for a fantastic statement chair in your studio.
The Special Gaming Edition of the Aeron isn't particularly special; Herman Miller is quite upfront about it being ergonomically identical to the standard Aeron. So what's the big difference that makes it a gaming chair? Simply the colour.
The darkest standard Aeron you can get comes in Graphite, but if that's not dark enough for you then the Special Gaming Edition comes in what Herman Miller describes as dark black. It's no Vantablack, but still, if you're going for a monochrome aesthetic in your studio then this could be a winner.
Not quite the cheapest Herman Miller chair you can get (but only by the barest of margins), the Setu is a decidedly minimal office chair with a mesh seat and back, and a flexible spine that responds to your movement. It comes in six tasteful colour options and either white or black frames, and you can adjust the height but nothing else.
Basic but effective, it's described by Herman Miller as a side chair and we're not entirely sure how it would suit all-day use; if you're looking for a cheap Herman Miller office chair then we'd direct you to the ever so slightly cheaper Lino with its higher back.
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