The Diffrient Smart™ Chair, developed by Shea+Latone in collaboration with Humanscale® and Niels Diffrient, has officially been classified as a “Living Product.” This classification makes Humanscale the first company in any industry to achieve full Living Product Challenge Certification.

The challenge was created by the International Living Future Institute as an attempt to raise the standard for sustainability. In order to achieve Living Product certification a product must have a positive, not just less of a negative, impact on the world. To create such a product, a manufacturer must be Net Positive- that is, put more back into society, the environment and global economy than is taken out through its operations.

In order to achieve full certification, the Smart Chair had to meet 20 requirements in 7 different categories: Place, Water, Energy, Health & Happiness, Materials, Equity and Beauty. Product requirements include using captured rainwater and/or recycled industrial water for 100% of manufacturing, containing none of the chemicals on a given “Red List”, using on-site renewable energy for 105% of production, and sourcing 75% of inputs within 5,000 km of the manufacturing site.