Nearly half a century after designing his first swivel chair and a good two decades after his last, Arno Votteler, working together with his son Matthias, succeeded at creating a design for Interstuhl that could very well presage a new generation of office chairs. The task at hand involved one of the key questions in industrial design: Is it possible to design a product that can be produced inexpensively and at the same time offers top design quality and exceptional comfort? A competition was held and Votteler Senior and Junior prevailed against high-calibre international competition by squaring the circle and trimming the price. Sputnik is composed almost exclusively of machine-made plastic parts. This enables an exacting fabrication and also benefits the customer since the chair can be put together in just a few minutes using a simple connector system. A fresh design detail is the way the arm rests are integrated into the seat, an eye-catching simplification that serves to give the chair greater stability. Another advantage that could set a precedent is the height adjuster located on the upper edge of the seat, which can be operated blindly. The rapid and successful development of the Sputnik was in great part based on the beneficial exchange between company management, engineers and the external designers.