Bill Stumpf, who lived and worked in Stockholm, Wisconsin and Winona, Minnesota, partnered with Don Chadwick, a Los Angeles-based product designer to create the Aeron Chair for Herman Miller. Stumpf is credited with producing Herman Miller’s first truly ergonomic task chair, the aptly named Ergon (1976) and its critically acclaimed Equa chair (1984). Stumpf’s ergonomic research and engineering focus coupled with Chadwick’s use of modern materials and manufacturing processes led to the development of the Aeron’s revolutionary, breathable fabric mesh seat and back support system and its articulating seat and back mechanism, which accommodated the increasingly slouchy posture of workers. Although premised on earlier ergonomic research and materials about furniture for the elderly that both designers had undertaken for Herman Miller but was never implemented, the futuristic Aeron chair became a status symbol for youthful tech workers in the world of dot.com era of the 1990s.