The steely-eyed government agents in 24, the Fox TV series, sat in Humanscale chairs.

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Instead of operating like other ergonomic chairs, which offer many choices of static positions, Humanscale's device encouraged the sitter to squirm at will.

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While Herman Miller and other larger rivals are laying off workers, Humanscale is hiring to fill up its new 125, 000-square-foot plant in Piscataway, N.

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While Herman Miller and other larger rivals are laying off workers, Humanscale is hiring to fill up its new 125, 000-square-foot plant in Piscataway, New Jersey.

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Six years ago, when Robert King met Niels Diffrient, King was struggling to lift Humanscale, a small maker of ergonomic products for the office, to the next level.

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Diffrient now devotes himself exclusively to projects for Humanscale.

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Last year Humanscale's revenue from the Freedom chair jumped another 30%. (Its gross margin hovers at 50% or so, compared with 30% for Steelcase.) This despite a memo circulated to hundreds of furniture wholesalers by Knoll and another chairmaker explaining that they regarded selling the products from Humanscale, a serious competitor, the equivalent of treason.

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