A tattoo artist spends the working day leaning over somebody else's body at a height that person chose, not one you chose. The client is flat on a bed, or turned on their side, or sitting up with a shoulder presented. The work is millimetre-accurate, both hands are occupied, and the session runs for hours rather than minutes. Whatever you are sitting on has to get your eye and your hand to the skin without you holding yourself there by effort.
That is a different problem from choosing an office chair, and most office chairs answer it badly. A conventional task chair puts you in a fixed, closed sitting position at a height range designed for a 720 mm desk. The saddle chair answers it differently: it lets you sit with your hips open and your feet planted, and it goes high enough to bring you level with a raised bed. This guide is about how to specify one properly, and it is mostly about one number — the gas lift.
We sell the HÅG Capisco and the HÅG Capisco Puls, and we have written this the way we would talk it through on the shop floor: the measurements Flokk actually publishes, the ones it does not, and who should not buy one of these at all.
The working position, and what the chair has to do
There are really only three postures in a tattoo session, and a chair either allows them or it does not.
Leaning forward over a reclined client. You are perched on the front of the seat, hips open, torso tipped forward from the hips rather than curled from the waist. The saddle seat is shaped for this: you sit astride it rather than in it, so the thighs drop away and the pelvis is free to tip. The Capisco's backrest is height-adjustable through 440–500 mm and tilts to 26°, which means it can be dropped and angled to meet you in the small of the back while you are forward, instead of sitting uselessly behind you.
Turned side-on to reach a limb. Because the seat is a saddle and not a bucket, you can swing one leg out and work across your body without the seat edge in the way. The 8106's seat pad is 400 mm deep and 500 mm wide — wide enough to sit across, and the adjustable depth (370–470 mm on the 8106) sets how much of it is under you.
Sitting astride, facing the backrest. This is the position the Capisco is best known for and the one people assume is a gimmick. It is not. Turned around, the backrest becomes a chest and forearm rest, which is a genuinely useful way to steady yourself over a low bed or during a long stretch of linework. It is also the reason the backrest is 600 mm wide.
We are describing geometry here, not medicine. A chair changes the positions available to you; what it does for any individual body over a career is not something we can promise and not something Flokk claims. If you have a specific problem with pain, that is a conversation with a clinician, not with a furniture shop.
The number that decides everything: the gas lift
The single most common specification error on a saddle chair is buying the standard cylinder and discovering it does not reach. On a HÅG, the gas lift is not a setting — it is one of three different cylinders, fitted at order. Changing it later is a five-minute job with the right part, but it is a purchase, not an adjustment.
These are the seat heights Flokk publishes in its 2025 HÅG Capisco factsheet for the 8106, the fully upholstered model:
| Gas lift | Seat height (HÅG Capisco 8106) | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| 150 mm | 400–540 mm | A conventional desk. Too low for most tattoo work. |
| 200 mm | 460–640 mm | The usual choice for a bed at mid height. |
| 265 mm | 550–810 mm | Raised beds, and working alongside a client seated on a stool. |
The Capisco Puls, the moulded-shell model, is a different chair and does not share those figures. Flokk publishes these:
| Gas lift | Capisco Puls 8010 | Capisco Puls 8020 |
|---|---|---|
| 150 mm | 390–525 mm | 400–535 mm |
| 200 mm | 455–640 mm | 470–650 mm |
| 265 mm | 540–795 mm | 555–805 mm |
Two things to know about how those numbers were taken. Flokk measures seat height under a 64 kg load, so an empty chair in the showroom will sit slightly higher than the table says — that is normal and not a fault. And Flokk's own documents are not perfectly consistent here: the 2025 factsheet gives 460–640 mm for the 200 mm lift on the 8106, while Flokk's webshop currently shows 470–655 mm for the same cylinder, which is the figure from the superseded October 2019 factsheet. We follow the 2025 sheet across this site. If your bed height sits within 15 mm of the top or bottom of a range, that difference matters and it is worth a phone call before you order rather than after.
How to choose your lift in five minutes
Do not guess this from a table. Do it with a tape measure, in your own studio.
- Set your bed to the height you actually work at for a typical piece — not its maximum, not its minimum.
- Measure from the floor to the top of the bed surface.
- Sit on whatever you use now, at the height where your eye and hand land comfortably on the work, and have someone measure from the floor to the top of the seat. That is your working seat height.
- Find the cylinder whose range contains that number with room to spare at both ends. If your working seat height is 600 mm, the 200 mm lift has you near the top of its travel; the 265 mm lift has you comfortably inside it.
- Repeat the exercise for the lowest bed position you use. One cylinder has to cover both, and that is usually what pushes people up to the 265 mm.
If you are working on more than one bed, or you share the studio and the chair moves between stations, measure the highest and lowest of them and specify for the spread.
If you go high, you need something for your feet
Above roughly the height of a standard desk, your feet stop reaching the floor, and a perched position with nothing under the feet is not a position you can hold for a four-hour session. There are two answers and they are not interchangeable.
The HÅG Capisco FootRing is a 450 mm ring that fits the column. Flokk's compatibility statement is specific: it suits all HÅG models "equipped with a 200mm or 265mm safety gas spring". It will not fit a 150 mm lift, and there is no adapter. It is colour-matched to the lift, so specify the two together. It is $210.60.
The HÅG StepUp is a chair-mounted footrest that clamps to the column and gives two foot levels. Flokk states it is for use with the 150, 200 and 265 mm lifts and suits desk heights of 800–950 mm. It is the only chair-mounted foot support that fits a 150 mm lift. It is $297.90.
One honest limitation: Flokk publishes no height-above-floor figure and no spacer increments for the FootRing, and no dimensions, weight or load rating for the StepUp. Figures for these circulate online and are traceable to a reseller, not to Flokk, so we do not repeat them. If a precise foot height matters to your setup, come and stand at one in the showroom.
Which model: 8106, Puls 8010 or Puls 8020
| Capisco 8106 | Capisco Puls 8010 | Capisco Puls 8020 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | Fully upholstered seat and back | Moulded shell | Moulded shell, fuller backrest |
| Seat depth | Adjustable 370–470 mm | 400–470 mm | 400–470 mm |
| Seat width | 500 mm pad | 460 mm | 460 mm |
| Backrest | 440–500 mm adjustable height, 600 mm wide | 400 mm | 400 mm |
| Chair weight | 12.1 kg | 11.1 kg | 11.1 kg |
| Upholstery choice | Fabric, vinyl and leather | Shell range | Shell range |
| From | $1,858 | $1,108.80 | $1,108.80 |
For a tattoo studio the decision usually comes down to surface rather than shape. The 8106 is the chair if you want the wider seat pad, the adjustable backrest height and the option of a wipe-clean surface: it is offered in Valencia vinyl and in Paloma Soft and Brown leathers alongside the fabrics, and a non-porous seat is worth having in a room where ink and green soap get everywhere. The Puls 8010 is the chair if the budget is the constraint — it is the same saddle idea at a little over half the price, and it takes the same three cylinders and the same FootRing. The 8020 adds a fuller backrest to the same shell; we hold it in small numbers, so check with us before you plan a fit-out around it.
If you want the fuller comparison of those two ranges we have written it up separately in HÅG Capisco 8106 vs Capisco Puls, and the model-by-model dimensions live on the HÅG Capisco models and measurements page.
What Flokk does not publish, and we will not invent
There is no published maximum user weight for the HÅG Capisco or the Capisco Puls. Flokk does not state one. A figure of 110 kg circulates widely and is often quoted as a load limit; it is not. It is a condition of the ten-year guarantee — the terms under which Flokk will honour the warranty — and that is a different thing from a structural rating. We would rather tell you that plainly than quote you a number we cannot stand behind. If a certified figure matters to you, ask us and we will chase it in writing.
Flokk also publishes no height-above-floor figure for the FootRing and no dimensions for the StepUp, as above. Where the manufacturer publishes nothing, we publish nothing.
The bits that wear out in a studio
A tattoo studio is harder on a chair than an office is. Ink, solvent, constant repositioning across the floor, and a chair that is rarely left alone for a whole day.
The reason we push the Capisco for this work rather than a cheaper saddle stool is that it comes apart. Flokk guarantees delivery of spare parts for a minimum of ten years after the chair's production date — the parts needed to maintain the chair's original functionality — measured from production, not from your purchase. That means a worn gas lift ($177.30 for the 150 mm, $197.10 for the 200 mm, $220.50 for the 265 mm) is a part, not a new chair. So are the 65 mm castors ($112.50 a set of five) and the glides ($99.00 a set of five) — and glides rather than castors are worth considering if your station is on a hard floor and you would rather the chair stayed put while you work.
Be clear about what the guarantee covers, though: it covers availability and it covers manufacturing defects. It excludes labour and transport costs, and excludes normal wear and tear. Parts being available for a decade is not the same as parts being free for a decade.
The warranty itself is ten years against production defects in normal use up to nine hours a day, dropping to five years beyond nine hours a day, with fabrics and leather covered for five. In a studio running long sessions back to back, that nine-hour line is worth reading before you assume the ten-year figure applies to you. All of this sits on top of your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, which are not limited by any manufacturer's warranty.
It does not suit you if
We would rather you bought the right thing than the expensive thing.
- You work almost entirely standing. Plenty of artists do, particularly on back and thigh pieces. If you sit for less than an hour a day, the money is better spent on the bed and the lighting, and a simple stool will do. Tell us what your day actually looks like and we will say so.
- You want a chair you can sink into between clients. The Capisco is not that chair. It is built to keep you in an active, upright, forward-capable position; it does not recline into a lounge. If you want somewhere to properly rest in the studio, that is a second chair, and we can point you at one from our range that does that job — the HÅG SoFi Mesh is the usual answer.
- Your working height is below about 400 mm. If you work very low — sitting on the floor beside a mattress, for instance — no Capisco cylinder goes there, and we will tell you that rather than sell you one.
- You need a certified user-weight rating on paper for an insurer or a landlord. Flokk does not publish one for this range. Talk to us before you specify, and we will find you something in our range that does carry the paperwork.
What it costs in Australia
Prices checked live on this store today.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| HÅG Capisco 8106 | from $1,858 |
| HÅG Capisco Puls 8010 | from $1,108.80 |
| HÅG Capisco Puls 8020 | from $1,108.80 |
| HÅG Capisco FootRing (200 mm and 265 mm lifts only) | $210.60 |
| HÅG StepUp (fits 150, 200 and 265 mm lifts) | $297.90 |
| HÅG Capisco gas lift | $177.30 / $197.10 / $220.50 |
| HÅG Capisco 65 mm castors, set of five | $112.50 |
| HÅG Capisco glides, set of five | $99.00 |
A realistic first order for one artist working over a raised bed is an 8106 with the 265 mm lift and a matching FootRing. Specify the lift and the ring together, in the same colour, at the time of order — retrofitting a ring to a 150 mm lift is the one thing you cannot do.
The chair is made to be kept
The Capisco was designed by Peter Opsvik in 1984 and is still made at Flokk's factory at Røros in Norway. Flokk's July 2025 environmental product declaration for the 8106 gives the chair a reference service life of 15 years and a total weight of 12.1 kg. It is certified to EN 1335 (2020) Type A and Type Ax, ANSI/BIFMA, EN 16139 and GS.
That combination — a forty-year-old design, a fifteen-year declared service life, and a decade of guaranteed parts — is the actual argument for spending $1,858 rather than $400 on a saddle stool. It is not that the chair is more comfortable on day one. It is that in year eight it is still the same chair with a new cylinder in it.
Where to go next
If this is your first saddle chair, read the HÅG Capisco buying guide next — it covers the model families in more detail. If you want to see how the same chair is specified for a job with an almost identical geometry, the HÅG Capisco in dentistry is the closest parallel we have written: a practitioner leaning over a reclined person at a height they did not choose. The full range is on the HÅG collection, and there is a plain-English overview of the format on our saddle chairs in Australia page.
And if you are fitting out a studio rather than buying one chair, ring us with your bed heights and the number of stations. That is a five-minute conversation that stops you ordering the wrong cylinder eight times.
Frequently asked questions
What gas lift does a tattoo artist need on a HÅG Capisco?
Most tattoo artists working over a raised bed need the 200 mm or the 265 mm lift. On the Capisco 8106 the 200 mm lift gives a seat height of 460–640 mm and the 265 mm lift gives 550–810 mm, both measured by Flokk under a 64 kg load. Measure your own working seat height with a tape measure and choose the cylinder that contains it with room to spare at both ends, because the gas lift is a part fitted at order rather than an adjustment you can make later.
Can you fit a footring to any HÅG Capisco?
No. Flokk states that the HÅG Capisco FootRing is compatible with all HÅG models equipped with a 200 mm or 265 mm safety gas spring. It will not fit a 150 mm lift and there is no adapter. If you need a foot support on a 150 mm lift, the HÅG StepUp is the alternative, which Flokk lists as suiting the 150, 200 and 265 mm lifts.
What is the maximum user weight of a HÅG Capisco?
Flokk does not publish a maximum user weight for the HÅG Capisco or the Capisco Puls. The 110 kg figure that circulates is a condition of the ten-year guarantee rather than a structural load rating, and the two are different measurements. If you need a certified figure for an insurer or a specification, ask us and we will chase it from Flokk in writing.
Is the Capisco Puls good enough, or do I need the 8106?
The Puls 8010 takes the same three gas lifts and the same FootRing as the 8106, so it reaches the same working heights. The 8106 is worth the difference if you want the wider 500 mm seat pad, the adjustable backrest height of 440–500 mm, or a wipe-clean vinyl or leather surface, which is a real consideration in a studio. If budget is the constraint, the Puls does the same job on height.
How do I clean a Capisco in a tattoo studio?
Specify a non-porous surface at the time of order. The 8106 is offered in Valencia vinyl and in Paloma Soft and Brown leathers alongside the fabric ranges, and a wipe-clean seat is far easier to keep presentable in a room where ink and soap get everywhere. Flokk covers fabrics and leather for five years against production defects, and normal wear is excluded from that cover.
Can you sit on a Capisco facing backwards?
Yes, and it is a designed use rather than a misuse. Turned around, the 600 mm wide backrest becomes a chest and forearm rest, which is a useful way to steady yourself over a low bed or through a long stretch of linework. It is one of the reasons the chair suits work where you have to change your relationship to the bed several times in a session.
How long do the parts last, and can I replace them?
Flokk guarantees delivery of spare parts for a minimum of ten years after the chair's production date, covering the parts necessary to maintain the chair's original functionality, and that clock runs from production rather than from your purchase. Gas lifts, castors and glides are all replaceable parts. The guarantee covers availability and manufacturing defects, and it excludes labour and transport costs and normal wear and tear.
What warranty comes with a HÅG Capisco in Australia?
Flokk gives a ten-year guarantee against production defects in normal use up to nine hours a day, reducing to five years for use beyond nine hours a day, with fabrics and leather covered for five years and normal wear excluded. A studio running long back-to-back sessions should read that nine-hour condition carefully. These terms sit on top of your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, which are not limited by any manufacturer's warranty.
