The bucket chair has done a lot of heavy lifting in commercial design. Brim, the latest polyshell from HON, adds a quieter, more architectural voice to the conversation.

Designed in collaboration with Nils Koehn, Brim trades novelty for a steadier kind of confidence. The one-piece shell nods to Saarinen’s tulip without trying to outshine it. The seat reads wider than expected. The curve of the back invites a slouch without permitting one.

Eleven shell colors range from grounded neutrals to more declarative tones. Specifiers can pair the shell with four base options: a 4-leg wood base, a 4-star height-adjustable metal base, a 5-star caster base, and a wire-leg base offered in multiple heights. An optional upholstered seat softens the contact point. The result is one chair that reads differently in a café, a private office, or a touchdown meeting room.

For workplaces hovering between residential ease and contract durability, that flexibility matters. Brim slips into the kind of mid-scale commercial seating brief that often gets oversolved.

Koehn’s earlier collaboration with HON produced Etch, the brand’s first perforated polyshell. Brim continues the partnership with a softer, less graphic register. It’s a study in restraint, which is harder to engineer than it looks.

Brim debuts at Fulton Market Design Days in June 2026 at HON’s new Chicago Flagship, 320 N. Sangamon St. Until then, take a look at how HON has been thinking about color across the modern workplace.

_{Images Courtesy of the HON Company}