Sit Any Way You Like
The Capisco is not a chair you sit in. It is a chair you move with. Perch forward, lean back, straddle the seat, or stand tall. Your body decides, the chair follows.
Active Sitting
The best sitting posture is never one single position. It is the next one, and the one after that. Peter Opsvik designed the Capisco around this principle: a chair that invites constant, subtle movement throughout the day.
The saddle seat opens your hip angle to 135 degrees, the same angle astronauts naturally adopt in zero gravity. This distributes your weight evenly, reduces spinal compression, and keeps your core engaged without effort. You sit actively without thinking about it.
One Chair, Endless Positions
The Capisco supports more sitting positions than any other office chair. Sit forward, perch sideways, lean back, or straddle the seat. Every position is the right one.
From Seated to Perched in Seconds
The Capisco adjusts from standard seated height all the way up to standing desk height, letting you perch at your sit-stand desk without needing a separate stool. One chair covers every working position throughout your day.
With the high gas lift option, the seat height reaches 630mm, perfect for desks at 900mm or above. You transition between sitting, perching, and standing without interrupting your workflow.
Peter Opsvik
Peter Opsvik is the pioneer of Active Sitting, a Norwegian industrial designer who has spent five decades studying how the human body interacts with furniture. His work begins with observation: watching children move, studying how people naturally shift and fidget, then designing chairs that accommodate that instinct rather than fighting it.
The Capisco, first introduced in 1984, remains his most celebrated design. Inspired by the posture of a horse rider, it was the first office chair to encourage forward-leaning sitting and constant postural variation. Over 40 years later, no other chair has matched its range of sitting positions.
Built to Last a Career
Every Capisco is manufactured at the Flokk factory in Scandinavia, powered entirely by renewable energy. The production process combines robotic precision with human quality control at every stage.
The result is a chair built to last 20 years or more. Every component is replaceable, every mechanism is serviceable. When the upholstery eventually wears, you replace the fabric, not the chair. This is furniture designed for a lifetime, not a lease cycle.
The Capisco in Every Setting
Designed for Every Space
The Capisco works in any environment because it was designed around the human body, not a particular desk or office layout. The distinctive saddle shape and compact footprint make it equally at home in a corner home office, a creative studio, a corporate boardroom, or a medical practice.
With over 40 fabric and leather options from Kvadrat, Gabriel, and other premium textile houses, each Capisco is configured to match your space. The frame comes in black, silver, or white to complement any interior.
Features & Specifications
Key Features
Dimensions: Model 8106
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. With the extended 265mm gas lift, the Capisco adjusts from 555mm to 810mm seat height, making it ideal for sit-to-stand desks from 72cm to 120cm. The saddle seat lets you perch in a semi-standing position that keeps your legs active without the fatigue of standing all day. No second chair required.
The Capisco 8106 has a fully upholstered seat and back with more padding, making it better for all-day use. The Capisco Puls 8010 uses a moulded plastic shell (partially upholstered), which is lighter, easier to clean, and slightly more affordable. Both share the same base, gas lift options, and movement mechanism.
Choose the 8106 for comfort over long sessions, or the Puls for environments where durability and easy cleaning matter more.
Absolutely. The open back is designed specifically for reverse sitting. Straddle the seat, rest your arms on the backrest, and you get a forward-leaning posture that opens your hip angle and relieves lower back pressure. This is one of the Capisco's signature sitting positions and a key reason designers, architects, and drafters prefer it.
Choose based on your desk height and how you prefer to sit. The standard 200mm gas lift gives a seat height range of 470 to 655mm, which suits conventional fixed-height desks at 72cm. The extended 265mm gas lift gives a seat height range of 555 to 810mm, designed for sit-to-stand desks or anyone who wants to perch at a higher position.
If you have a height-adjustable desk, the extended gas lift is almost always the better choice. It lets you use the full range of seated, perched, and semi-standing positions that make the Capisco unique. The standard gas lift only makes sense if your desk is fixed at a conventional height and you never plan to perch.
We have a detailed guide on this topic: HAG Capisco Gas Lift Guide: Standard vs High.
The Capisco works best for people who move naturally while working: those who fidget, shift position, lean forward, or alternate between sitting and standing. It suits users between 155cm and 195cm tall (with footring for shorter users), weighing up to 150kg.
It is not ideal for people who prefer to recline deeply or sit completely still for long periods. If you want a passive, cushioned seat, a traditional task chair like the HAG SoFi is a better fit.
HAG provides a 10-year warranty covering all parts for normal use up to 9 hours per day. This includes the gas lift, tilt mechanism, base, castors, and upholstery frame. Normal wear on fabric and foam is excluded.
The warranty reflects the build quality: die-cast aluminium base, steel column, and a mechanism tested to 100,000+ cycles.

