and utility patents on furniture designs in America and abroad. Other honors include the I.D. (magazine) Top 40 Design Innovators of 1996, the 1996 Chrysler Award for Innovation, the Smithsonian’s 2002 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Product Design, and the 2005 Legend Award from Contract magazine. In 2007, Forbes.com named Diffrient the "granddaddy of the ergonomic revolution" and one of ten "Tastemakers" in the field of industrial design. In 1987 he was appointed an Honorary Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) by the Royal Society for Arts (RSA) in London. In 2012, he received a Lifetime Contribution to Design Award and FX Magazine International Interior Design Awards. Products designed by Niels Diffrient Humanscale Humanscale is an American company based in New York City, best known for its Freedom chair designed by Niels Diffrient and introduced in 1999. Chairs: Freedom Chair, 1999: The chair was considered innovative for its internal counterbalance mechanism that allegedly supports the user’s body at all points during recline, a first for task chairs. The Freedom chair has patented synchronous arms, which adjust simultaneously. The headrest tilts forward as the sitter reclines, keeping the head in an upright position. Liberty Chair, 2004: Humanscale’s other notable task chair is its Liberty chair, also designed by Niels Diffrient, which was introduced in 2004. The Liberty chair is a tri-panel mesh back design, which allegedly provides lumbar support. Like the Freedom chair, Liberty is also outfitted with a balanced recline mechanism that is supposed to support all sitters throughout recline. Diffrient World Chair, 2009 Humanscale also manufactures keyboard support systems, monitor arms, task lighting, and various other ergonomic work tools, including: Diffrient Task and Work Light, 2002 Other Diffrient Chair (Knoll), 1979 Helena Chair and Jefferson Chair (SunarHauserman), 1984 Flexible Workspace Furniture System (KI), 1998 John Deere tractors (Henry Dreyfuss) Borletti Sewing Machine (Marco Zanuso) Confessions of a Generalist (Generalist Ink, LLC) Publications Diffrient, Niels. Humanscale: Manual. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1974. Print. Diffrient, Niels, Mildred S. Friedman, Joan Bardagjy, and Nicholas Polites. Dimensions of Experience: Understanding and Measuring Human Experience in the Designed Environment. Minneapolis, Minn: Walker Art Center, 1975. Print. Diffrient, Niels. Confessions of a Generalist. Danbury, Conn.: Generalist Ink, LLC, 2012. Print. Lutz, Brian. Eero Saarinen: Furniture for Everyman. New York: Pointed Leaf Press, 2012. Print. Pedersen, Martin C. "Niels Diffrient." Metropolis: Architecture Design 32.8 (2013): 88. Biography Reference Bank (H.W. Wilson). Web. 10 Dec. 2015. References External