Draughtsman Chairs: For When Your Desk Is Taller Than Average

Most office chairs are built around one assumption: the desk is about 72cm off the floor. Take that away and the chair stops working. Put a standard task chair at a 90cm lab bench and you are typing with your shoulders. A draughtsman chair is the answer to a desk that is taller than average, and it is a different object from a normal chair with the gas lift wound up.

What makes a draughtsman chair different

Three things, and they matter in this order. The gas lift is longer. A standard task chair seat runs from roughly 45cm to 55cm. A draughtsman chair starts around 60cm and goes to 78cm or more, so the seat sits where a counter or drafting table needs it. The Cosmo Hi Rise draughtsman chair runs 60cm to 78cm. The Eclipse Plus deluxe extra large mesh back draughtsman chair goes from 61cm to 86cm.

Second, there is somewhere to put your feet. At 70cm off the ground your feet do not reach the floor, and dangling legs are what makes a tall stool unbearable after an hour. A draughtsman chair has a foot ring around the column, or on the Cosmo a footrest that adjusts for height, so your knees sit at a right angle the way they would at a normal desk.

Third, the base is built for the height. A taller column on the same five star base is a taller lever, so the good ones use a heavier base and some models come on glides rather than castors.

How to size a draughtsman chair

The number you need is the height of the work surface. Measure from the floor to the top of the bench, counter or desk, not to the shelf under it. Then take off the gap you would have at an ordinary desk, which for most people is 25cm to 30cm between the seat and the surface, and that gives you the seat height you need. A 95cm lab bench wants a seat around 65cm to 70cm. A 105cm counter wants 75cm or more.

Then check the range, not the maximum. A chair that tops out at the height you need will spend its life at full extension with nothing left to adjust for the next person. Aim for your number to land in the middle third of the range. Standing height desks are the exception. If the desk moves, buy the chair for the height you will actually sit at, which is usually the lower end.

On the spec table, these are the rows to read:

• Seat height range, and where your surface height lands in it.

• Foot ring or adjustable footrest. The footrest is better for a shared chair because it moves. The ring is simpler and cheaper.

• Weight capacity and the usage rating. The three chairs below are all rated for 8 hour use, and capacity runs from 110kg to 125kg.

• Arms. See below.

The arm question

At counter height the arms of a chair are usually at or above the underside of the surface, so a chair with fixed arms will not tuck in and the sitter ends up perching on the front edge. If the surface has a deep lip, an apron or drawers underneath, buy without arms, or buy arms that fold. The Eclipse Plus draughtsman range comes with no arms, fixed arms, height adjustable arms or height adjustable folding arms, so you can pick the version that fits the bench. If you work across a wide surface and move side to side, armless is nearly always the right call, and we keep a page of office chairs without arms for exactly that comparison.

If the desk is the wrong height, no chair fixes it. But if the desk has to be that height, this is the chair that stops it hurting.

The ones we sell, and who they suit

The Cosmo is the general purpose pick: a 60cm to 78cm lift, an adjustable footrest, a back that tilts with automatic tension, 120kg capacity, made from GRS certified recycled plastic, with a 5 year guarantee on the mechanism. If the chair will live at a reception counter or a studio bench, start here.

The Eclipse Plus deluxe with the extra large mesh back is for someone sitting all day at a high desk. It has adjustable lumbar support, a dished seat rather than a perch, and the longest lift we list at 61cm to 86cm. Rated to 125kg.

The Malaga washable polyurethane draughtsman chair is for anywhere the chair gets cleaned as often as the bench: food production, labs, medical rooms. The polyurethane seat and back wipe down or steam clean, it has a foot ring and glides rather than castors, and a 58.5cm to 73cm lift. 110kg. Not the chair for an architect's studio, but the right one for a clean room.

If you already have a floor of Eclipse Plus task chairs and want a matching one at counter height, there is a version fitted with a hi rise kit that gives you the same lift and finishes as the deluxe. The full draughtsman chairs and stools range is on the site with every measurement on the page. Tell me the bench height and I will tell you which one fits.