Studio Weber + Associates
Empathic Design

Approach

Our legacy In design, 

people come first

We’re a curious bunch of creatives, prone to challenging and inspiring one another each and every day. But no person challenges or inspires us more than the renowned industrial designer Bill Stumpf, our mentor, friend, and one of the studio’s founding members. 

Bill had a philosophy: put people first in design. It’s a philosophy you can see throughout his career. Take his early work with Herman Miller. Bill was brought on to apply his ergonomics research into creating the Ergon, the world’s first ergonomic office chair, which responded to a person’s body movement.  

Later, he applied that same philosophy to his work with Don Chadwick and Jeff Weber, an apprentice at the time. Together, the team created the Aeron, a chair designed to adapt to the individual — with its woven suspension fabric and biomorphic signature shape.


Bill’s philosophy even went on to become a founding principle of Stumpf, Weber + Associates, where Bill and Jeff worked on what would become the Embody, a chair that did more than minimize the effects of sitting but had a positive impact on the body.     

Though our name may have changed, that philosophy of putting people first still remains the same. It inspires us to continue challenging the conventions of design to solve some of today’s most challenging design problems. It reminds us of where we’ve been, and it informs us of where we’re headed. 

Recognition

Union Hyundai LIVART:

  • 2022 Red Dot Award Winner

Mobi Legs:

  • Popular Science Innovation of the Year (Healthcare)

  • Top prize at the IDSA Plastics News Design Awards at NPE2012 International Plastics Showcase.

  • Society of the Plastic Industry Inc.’s (SPI) design award in the medical and scientific category.

American Seating:

  • US® Chair Named 2012 Good Design™ Award Winner

  • Best of Year Honoree by Interior Design magazine.

Herman Miller:

  • Embody Chair receives FX International Interior Design award in Best Workplace Seating category

  • International Plastics Design Competition award

  • Best of NeoCon Silver in the Ergonomic Desk/Task Seating category.

  • Envelop desk and Setu chair receive Interior Design magazine's Best of Year product awards.

  • Envelop desk receives the National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition Attendees' Choice award.

  • Embody chair named "Best of 2008" by WIRED magazine.

  • Embody chair named "Best of Tech" for 2008 by Yahoo Tech.

  • Embody chair named People's Choice at National Ergonomics Conference and Exhibition.

  • Best of NeoCon, Gold Award in "Seating Desk/Task Chairs" for the Caper chair

  • Aeron work stool wins Attendees' Choice Award from the National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition.

  • Fast Company magazine hails Herman Miller's Aeron chair and Eames Lounge among the 15 best-designed consumer products of the past 100 years

  • Aeron Chair named one of "Designs Greatest Hits" in Your Company magazine

  • Aeron: "Designs of the Decade" Gold Winner in "Office Furniture" from the Industrial Designers Society of America & Business Week magazine