Herman Miller might be best known for its upscale office furniture—particularly those pricey see-through chairs which became symbols of excess during the dotcom blowout—but now the company is getting into the personal climate control business with its C2 Climate Control device, offering to let users heat up or cool down their personal space without engaging in a battle of thermostats with their co-workers.
Set to be shown this week at the NeoCon trade fair in Chicago and part of the company’s The Be Collection, the C2 reportedly consumes up to 90 percent less energy than a space heater, has no exposed heating elements or harmful emissions, doesn’t need to be filled with water, and comes with a timer which turns it off automatically after four hours. According to a company spokesperson, starting from a baseline temperature of 72 degrees, the unit can raise the temperature within 6 inches of itself by 40 degrees, or cool it by 8 degrees. The idea is that office workers, cubicle denizens, and others who aren’t comfortable with their work environment temperatures but can’t adjust the thermostat without annoying everybody else will be able to exert some control over their personal space.
The C2 also acts as an air filter, catching dust, pollen, and other particles as small as five microns in a Greenguard-certified, re-usable filter. The company says the filtration is 80 to 90 percent better than typical home furnace air filtration.
Herman Miller expects to begin offering the C2 this "summer"—we’re presuming they mean the northern hemisphere summer—at a price around $300. The company expects to sell at least 10,000 units during its first year of availability.
