Herman Miller: From Aeron to air

How times have changed. At the height of the dot-com boom, one of the early symbols of egregious excess was Herman Miller's "Aeron" uber-chair, which often sold for more than $1,000 apiece. Although it still sells those chairs--which apparently haven't come down in price--the specialty furniture maker is now touting a very different kind of product that's far less visible. In fact, its effects are completely invisible.

The "C2," so far as we can tell from its product literature, is a fancy personal air conditioner and filter that goes for $280--or, in the words of Fareastgizmos, "enhances an individual's personal climate experience" with "air quality provided by its Greenguard-certified particulate air filter."

Whatever. We're just surprised that the designer, which puts so much emphasis on asthetics, would create something that looks so much like a salt shaker.