Varier Wing Balans Review 2024

Does your current office chair leave more than a little to be desired? Do you find yourself wincing in pain after a long day’s work, confined to your chair?

If you answered yes to either of those questions and are willing to look beyond traditional office furniture to find something better, then you’ll love our in-depth review of the Varier Wing Balans Chair.

Designed by the legendary Norwegian designer Peter Opsvik in 1984, this is the sequel to the chair that essentially launched the ergonomic furniture movement. To this day, it remains the flagship model of Varier’s kneeling chair designs. It is superb and, simply put, is the standard by which all other kneeling chairs are measured. Varier kneeling chairs are simply exceptional.

While conventional office chairs are a lot more comfortable than they were in eras past and come with a variety of cutting-edge ergonomic features, they’re still conventionally designed and, as such, suffer from the same basic limitations all conventional chairs do.

The kneeling chair is something altogether different. It works with your body’s shape and mechanical structure to provide a seating experience quite unlike anything you’ve ever experienced if you’ve never had the pleasure of sitting in one.

Granted, they’re a little unusual looking, and as such, they’re not for everyone, but as you’ll see in this Varier Wing Balans review, these are amazing chairs with a lot to offer the right person, as do the brand’s other Varier office chairs.

In the following sections, we’ll review everything this alternative office chair can do and explain why you may want to consider it and why it might not be right for you. Even if you opt to go in some other direction, you’ll agree that this is an amazing chair deserving of the many awards it has won. Let’s jump right in and take a closer look!

Key Features of the Varier Wing Balans

Let’s start by talking about aesthetics. You’ll either like the look of this type of chair enough to give it a try or not. If you’re not a fan of the aesthetic, this review is unlikely to change your mind.

If you like it, or if you’re on the fence and willing to consider something a bit off the beaten path, you’ll find this model very appealing.

As mentioned above, this design is not new but still cutting-edge. To this day, it’s the standard every other kneeling chair on the market tries to live up to. Most fail, so the Varier Wing Balans kneeling chair is worth every penny, even if it is a bit pricey.

Chair Specifications

In terms of the basic statistics that define the model, here’s what you’re looking at:

As you can see, this is an incredibly versatile chair, but it gets better. Every Wing is handcrafted using laminated ash harvested sustainably from Norway’s forests. The five-point polyurethane base is high-density, and the casters are well suited for ease of movement on everything but plush carpet.

Upholstery

The Varier Wing Balans is incredibly well-designed and easy to adjust. Even better, Varier did not skimp in terms of upholstery, offering a variety of options:

The company offers various finishes in various colors, which you can select when you place your order. All of them are exceptional, so it mostly comes down to personal preference. Whatever you pick, your chosen upholstery will be stretched over-generous padding.

Comfort

Comfort has many dimensions, and the Wing chair gives you the best of all worlds. Although it does take some getting used to, sitting in a Wing chair is a delight. It is quite comfortable and offers superb ergonomic benefits.

The padding is generous, and while sitting in the chair, you feel like you’re floating on clouds. Unlike many other kneeling chairs, this model doesn’t force you to sacrifice ease of mobility. You can move about freely since it has casters like a conventional office chair.

This Chair Does Not Come Assembled

As with most office furniture, and especially given that this chair will be arriving from Europe, it probably comes as no surprise that when you get it, it will arrive at your door in a large box and several pieces.

In our Varier Wing Balans Kneeling Chair review, we’d say that if you’ve never assembled a kneeling chair before, there will be some head-scratching as you work out exactly how the pieces fit together. Still, again, Varier is exceptional on this front. The assembly instructions are clear, and the production quality is amazing. It goes together quickly and easily and won’t require much maintenance once assembled.

Pros and Cons of the Varier Wing Balans

So, where does that leave us? Varier is a legend in the industry, well known for the quality of its products and world-class post-sales service and support. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better company regarding those things, and Peter Opsvik is one of the best designers in the business.

The Wing Chair is proof of that, given that it has survived the test of time and is still, decades later, the standard by which other chairs of its type are measured.

Having said that, not everyone is a fan of kneeling chairs; it’s just that simple. If you don’t like them and can’t see yourself sitting in one, none of the others matters. You’re just not going to take the plunge and spend hundreds of dollars on something you don’t connect with.

We’d rate that as the Wing Chair’s only real weakness.

Final Thoughts on Varier Wing Balans Review

If you suffer from back or leg pain, especially coccyx pain, we recommend the Varier Wing Balans Chair without reservation. The only proviso is, of course, that you’re willing to buck convention and buy a chair designed in a very different way. 

If you choose a kneeling chair, Varier is the company you want to do business with. In this market segment, there’s Varier, and then there’s everybody else. The difference is that big. Decades later, everybody else selling kneeling chairs is still trying to catch up with Peter Opsvik.

Recommended Reading

Official Manufacturer Support

REFERENCES & RESOURCES

• Varier, Official Brand Website.
• Varier Wing Balans Product Sheet.
• Tips On How To Take Care And Maintain Office Furniture And Fixtures, My Decorative.
• 5 Physical Problems You Have From Sitting Still All Day, Solved, The Muse.