One of MillerKnoll’s flagship brands is drawing on its iconic past with the rollout of a new task chair.

The Zeeland-based furniture maker MillerKnoll (Nasdaq: MLKN), said its Herman Miller brand is partnering with design firm Studio 7.5 to introduce a new Eames Shell Chair-inspired product: the Zeph Chair.

“Zeph marks the introduction of a chair tailored to our new ways of working,” said Ben Watson, president of the Herman Miller brand. “It’s an elegant, customizable and colorful addition to Herman Miller’s market-leading portfolio of high-performance seating.”

Zeph aims to bridge the gap between Herman Miller’s iconic midcentury designs and the ergonomics of today’s office chairs. The result is an accessible design that doesn’t compromise comfort or style, Herman Miller said.

With its slim profile and an easy-to-adjust design, users should expect to find Zeph a colorful companion capable of supporting a variety of needs while seamlessly incorporating itself into the scenery of any room, Herman Miller said.

Zeph’s “clean and uninterrupted silhouette” is intentional, the brand said. The sculpted mono-shell seat is a nod to Herman Miller’s contoured classic Eames Shell Chair. However, customers shouldn’t be deceived by its simple, organic appearance, Herman Miller said. Under the seat is hidden technology designed to deliver a seamless ergonomic experience that leverages human-centered motion. This allows Zeph to create a natural, fluid motion that works for all body types, the brand said.

“Our ambition was to create an animated shell chair. What first sounds like a contradiction became possible by utilizing the inherent materiality of plastic: being flexible and capable of providing a spring- loaded mechanism,” said Burkhard Schmitz, who helms Studio 7.5 with Carola Zwick and her brother Roland Zwick. “Zeph’s joyful aesthetics provides surprising ergonomic benefits too.”

After many iterations of 3-D printed prototypes, Studio 7.5 perfected a one-piece seat and back that moves with the person sitting in it. While most chairs are static, the kinematic plastic monoshell on Zeph offers a natural recline that uses the sitter’s pivot points to create the right counterbalance and change posture seamlessly, the designers said.

The expansive color palette also took inspiration from the past.

“One of the things we wanted to pick up from Herman Miller’s midcentury era was the optimistic and delightful idea of the future. We wanted Zeph to be playful and happy,” Zwick said.

The palette or “the crayon box,” as Studio 7.5 called it, is intended to be inviting for a variety of tastes and to let users have some fun.

The uniform hue design, achieved by pioneering dipped-in color options, first was introduced to Herman Miller by Studio 7.5 through the launch of the Cosm chair. Through this process, color is applied purposefully to the entire chair, all the way down to the casters.

In addition to the bright, dipped-in color options available for the chair, every Zeph shell can be further customized through the addition of upholstery, either as a seat pad or a unibody that covers the entire front of the shell.

This upholstery construction is a first for Herman Miller. It easily can be mounted and replaced without tools for easy cleaning or to swap different colors, and it uses 3-D knit technology, with each seat option made of 50% recycled polyester yarn.

“As professionals enter a new era of empowerment and flexibility, Herman Miller is responding in kind with Zeph — a design that can continue to be customized even after it’s left our care,” Watson said. “Between colors, shell choices and texture options, Zeph is a thoughtfully designed solution fit for any life or space.”

Zeph now is available for contract clients at specific business pricing via an authorized MillerKnoll dealer. It also will be available to purchase through store.hermanmiller.com and Herman Miller’s retail locations across the country in August. Pricing for Zeph at retail locations will start at $495.

Zeph is launching as a chair and a work stool and is available in eight colors with 20 seat pad upholstery options. The unibody upholstery options will be available later this year.

A side chair version of Zeph with the same kinematic monoshell will be introduced early next year.