Okamura Contessa Chair vs Herman Miller Aeron - THE Aeron Vanquisher? 

I purchased the Contessa II here is Canada which my insurance paid for it. I was in a motor vehicle accident and injured my back so I required a better chair as everything else bothered my back. I liked your review as you covered all of the features of the chair. Top notch!

Thank for the review. I’ve just ordered two Contessa II with polished frames/white plastic/dark green mesh, for my office. Looking so great in the product photos and I’m excited to see how they looks in RL. No resellers here in Sweden so I ordered from Prague, Czech Republic. Free shipping though 😅

It is a magnificent and beautiful chair. I have the okamura contessa chair, the original version. I use it for almost 16 years and it remains intact. I bought it because I can't find the herman miller aero, but if I went back in time, I think I wouldn't think twice and buy it again.

I owned a Teknion Contessa (v1) for several years as my home office chair, and really liked it overall. Compared to my ErgoCentric tCentric at the office, it was much prettier and much better built. I bought my Contessa lightly used, and it was probably used for about 10 years between the previous owner and myself. At that point, it still looked and felt brand new. Unfortunately, mine did not come with the rare optional headrest and a genuine Contessa headrest was outrageously expensive (ie $300-600) IF you could find one. Due to space limitations I was forced to sell mine about a two years ago, and have regretted it since. I bought another one today - unfortunately much more used, but with the headrest. Positives - awesome adjustability, great build quality, very durable mesh (no sagging after many years/many hours of use) Negatives really focus on three areas (1) the mesh seat bottom, (2) the armrests, and (3) the tilt mechanism. (1) the mesh is quite rough on bare skin, causes pilling from fabric, and holds dust and dead skin requiring frequent thorough cleaning (but part of this is just that you can SEE all of this, on other chairs to some extent it is just "out of sight, out of mind") (2) the armrests wear prematurely and cannot be re-capped with generic pads due to the complexity of the armrest system -I don't know how easy/affordable it is to get replacements, and unfortunately these get worn and raggedy while the rest of the chair looks perfect. The armrests lack in-out adjustment, and the pivot range of adjustment is relatively low compared to many competing chairs. Lastly, the whole armrest system tends to get a little loose and wobbly with time, but this is not uncommon for highly-adjustable armrest systems - I don't know if they can be tightened up. (3) the "synchro-tilt" tilts the seat bottom very little, mostly just reclines the backrest. Some other chairs have a more aggressive "multi-tilt" that tilts the bottom in proportion to the backrest, but then it is critical to find a "knee-tilt" style that has the pivot point forward of centre so that your knees don't go up, just your butt goes down. Overall, I do highly recommend this chair for WFH use. For under $500 used, you are getting a far superior seat compared to any sub-$1000 new chair.

Agree with everything you mentioned. Saw this at the corner of a office furniture shop and was blown away by the quality at this price. Found the non-mesh seat more comfortable though

Was having trouble with the armrest constantly going down. Thanks for showing me you have to push it down FIRST and then lift it up!

The Okamura (or Teknion in the US) Contessa has one HUGE advantage for me over the Aeron: it can be ordered with an upholstered seat pad, rather than the mesh. I do think the Aeron's mesh seat is better than Teknion's, but Teknion's upholstered seat is a WAY better than both. I also don't know if you touched on it and I just missed it, but the chair you have is the original Contessa, but an updated design was released shortly after the Aeron re-design a couple of years ago, and it's now called the "Nuova Contessa" It's also worth mentioning that if the "fit" of the chair is perfect fit but the height doesn't go low enough, they also offer a lower cylinder.

i have an okamura which i managed to get for free as a school i was driving challenged children to was throwing out a bunch of chairs and i spotted it and thought it was nice and they allowed me to take it...didn't realise what a gem i had found until i researched the company...but not sure which one it is as it only says OKAMURA on it ,there are a couple of stickers on it with product codes but i cannot seem to find which version it is even with these....what i am looking for is either a place to purchase spare parts or a guide on how to remove the rollers as they are starting to seize up ,i am guessing they are just push on but am worried if i exert too much pressure i will break the wheel and not have a replacement

I can see this is a great chair, and looks like you rate this as highly as the Regeneration chair. If you had a choice between the Contessa vs the Knoll Regeneration which would you choose? Mostly for comfort, not adjustability. Thanks!

I would like to know the minimum seat depth, as I am a short person (1.57m), I can not find a chair that has a seat shorter than my legs.

How necessary would you say the lumbar support is? Other than the fact the used one I am looking at doesn't have a head-rest I think this would be a great chair.

Just got a refurbished one from work, tried to to get a HM or Steelcase. But yeah work wouldn't allow it too expensive even refurbished one. So picked up the Contessa. Does anyone have a solution or found the headrest for these chairs? Would love to add one if possible.

Hi, may I know if the mesh seat durable? How's the overall tension & comfort?

Is 400 euro good for the used one?

Whats that thing in the clips below the seat?

This looks like a lot like the Secret Lab NeueChair. It looks like the Neuechair is a rebranded GTChair, which might be a chinese ripoff or a rebrand of contessa.. People have found issues with he NeueChair seat mesh sagging. How's it standing up on this one?

Pity these aren't as popular as the Herman Miller. I've 2 for sale and there's far less interest than when I was selling a Herman Miller. I actually prefer the Contessa though!

Hey, I’m planning to buy the chair. Can someone confirm if it’s good for a tall person? 191cm (6’2), 87kg. Thanks!

Hello sir sand nambar please