From racecourses to hotels, conference centres to hospitality venues around the world, Burgess Furniture’s Vario Allday has spent 25 years proving that good design never goes out of style.
Launched in 2001, Vario Allday was designed to redefine expectations of conference and banqueting seating. At a time when flexible-back seating often prioritised function over appearance, Burgess Design Manager Peter Roth set out to create something different – a chair that combined ergonomic comfort with a more refined and contemporary aesthetic.
Twenty-five years later, more than 280,000 Vario Allday chairs have been supplied to venues across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, making it one of Burgess Furniture’s longest-running and most widely purchased seating collections.
Designed Around Comfort
The name “Vario” originated from a play on the word variable, reflecting the chair’s innovative back geometry and flexible support system.
When the chair was first developed, flex-back seating was already established in the market, but many products were relatively heavy and utilitarian in appearance. Vario Allday took a different approach.
One of its most distinctive innovations was a concealed flex bracket, allowing the chair to provide dynamic support without exposing the mechanical elements typically associated with flexible seating. At the time, this was a unique solution that helped set the chair apart from competing products.
The result was a chair that offered the comfort benefits of a flex-back design while maintaining the clean lines and elegant profile expected in hospitality environments
A Product That Defied Categorisation
Interestingly, when Vario Allday was launched, Burgess wasn’t entirely sure where it would fit within the market.
Originally, Sales & Marketing Director Tony Falkingham found it difficult to pigeonhole the product into a single category. Was it a conference chair? A banqueting chair? A hospitality chair?
The answer turned out to be all three.
The chair’s combination of comfort, stackability and contemporary styling enabled it to perform equally well across a wide variety of venue types, making it a genuine multi-purpose seating solution.
That versatility remains one of its greatest strengths today.
The First Major Order
One of the first notable customers to recognise the potential of Vario Allday was Sandown Park Racecourse, which placed an early order shortly after launch in 2001.
Remarkably, images of the chair can still be seen in use at Sandown today, reflecting both its enduring aesthetic and the durability expected in demanding commercial environments.
From Hundreds to Thousands
Over the years, Vario Allday has been procured for countless hospitality and conference projects.
One of the largest orders came during the mid-2000s, when Burgess manufactured 6,000 Vario Arm Chairs for a nationwide rollout across Hilton Hotels conference facilities throughout the UK.
Projects such as these reinforced Vario Allday’s reputation as a dependable solution for venues seeking comfort, durability and operational practicality.
By The Numbers
Over the last 25 years, Vario Allday has quietly become one of Burgess Furniture’s most successful seating collections.
- 280,000+ chairs supplied
- Largest known project: 6,000 chairs supplied to Hilton Hotels conference facilities across the UK
- Exported across Europe, the Middle East and Asia
- First notable customer: Sandown Park Racecourse (2001)
And for those who enjoy a statistic:
- If all 280,000 chairs were stacked into a single tower, it would reach the height of approximately 98 Burj Khalifa buildings.
- The aluminium tube used across those chairs approximately totals an astonishing 736.8 kilometres – enough to stretch from Burgess Furniture’s headquarters to Esbjerg in Denmark and almost enough to reach Lyon in France or Stuttgart in Germany.
It’s a remarkable illustration of the scale achieved by a product that was originally designed simply to create a more elegant and comfortable conference chair.
Evolving Without Losing Its Identity
While the core design has remained remarkably consistent, Vario Allday has evolved over the years in response to customer feedback and changing venue requirements.
Among the refinements introduced was a 4-degree more upright back option, developed specifically to suit banqueting environments.
The range of back shapes also expanded over time, allowing customers to select profiles that best matched their venue style and application.
Earlier versions featured side protectors to help guard upholstery during stacking and handling. As materials and operational requirements evolved, these were eventually removed from the standard specification.
Despite these refinements, the chair remains fundamentally true to the original concept introduced in 2001.
Built to Perform
Behind the elegant appearance lies a product engineered for demanding commercial environments.
Vario Allday achieved the highest level of testing for contract seating under BS 4875:2001 Part 1, Test Level 5 and was recognised with the prestigious FIRA Ergonomics Excellence Award.
The chair’s combination of lumbar support, flexible back movement and carefully contoured seat continues to be recognised by customers with comfort consistently cited as the feature users notice most.
Why It Still Matters Today
In an industry where product ranges are constantly evolving, it is unusual for a hospitality chair to remain commercially successful for a quarter of a century.
Yet Vario Allday continues to be a desired product by hotels, conference centres and hospitality venues because the fundamentals remain as relevant as ever:
- Exceptional comfort
- Practical stackability
- Durable contract-grade construction
- Timeless design
- Multi-purpose flexibility
As Burgess has introduced newer seating collections over the years, Vario Allday has continued to hold its place within the market.
“We expected Vario Allday’s sales to naturally decline as newer products entered the market. The reality was quite different. Customers continued to specify it because its combination of comfort, flexibility and design remained as relevant as ever.“
In fact, some expected successor products never fully replaced it because demand for Vario Allday simply never went away.
A Design That Has Stood the Test of Time
Looking back at the original 2001 brochure, many of the features highlighted at launch remain central to the chair’s appeal today: ergonomic comfort, elegant styling, stackability and versatility.
While fabrics, finishes and venue interiors have evolved over the last quarter-century, the principles behind Vario Allday have remained unchanged. Create a comfortable chair, engineer it to withstand demanding commercial use, and design it to look at home in almost any hospitality setting.
Twenty-five years and 280,000 chairs later, Vario Allday stands as proof that thoughtful design can transcend trends.
Some products evolve.
Some products disappear.
And a select few become classics.
Vario Allday has earned its place among them.
If you’re reviewing seating for conference, banqueting or multi-purpose event spaces, Burgess can help you evaluate the options and identify solutions that meet both operational and guest experience requirements.
To discuss an upcoming project or learn more about the Vario Allday collection, contact the Burgess team.