What makes a comfortable chair? Good Form rehab.

I am admittedly not very critical of seating, aside from those in airlines and cars. I spend a lot of time on a very thin bicycle seat, so anything else is a luxury.

I just picked up a 1950's Good Form swivel office chair. Properly retro. Built in Murica'

My wife will be spending more time in this than me working from home twice a week, and she's particular about seating.

How can I modify the padding in an old chair to be more comfortable?

My old ratty Corbeau mounted to an office chair base was the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in. With a bad back and neck I would have loved to throw it in our living room for watching TV. Don't think the wife would appreciate it as much as I.

Find out what she likes--Old Steelcase style, Eames style, whatever. Modify the chair to look like that.

Then make the desk a sit/stand desk. Sitting is the new smoking (although, the best is a combo of sitting and standing).

It's not an issue of style, I'm trying to figure out what type of foam or foam shaping needs to be done to make it more comfortable.

She's used to modern cheap chairs that have pillows for padding.

Pretty sure I got this website from Keith, suggested for automotive use, but I'm sure if it's good enough for aircraft and a racecar, it's good enough for an office seat

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cmpages/conForFoan.php

Maybe a layer of high density with a layer of medium density on top? Or go all out and do the 3 layer sandwich they sell.

If it really is an old GoodForm chair, leave it alone. They were/are already good and comfortable.

At the most, the like of seat beads or such for ventilation, if she's going to get hot and sweaty on the vinyl.

Pics? Foam posted above seems to be OK, but you'll probably want a scrim of some sort to bond to it. Also would be nice to know densities and ILDs of it. I assume you'll reuse the original seat cover?

I'm an engineer that specializes in cushions & comfort systems for a very large aerospace company. I can't talk about this too much here, but you can PM me.

It's actually been recovered in some sort of vinyl.

Apparently it might be worth paying someone to re-cover it considering that some people are trying to sell these for $700!

Here's a more reasonable example selling for $300...

Both look to have significantly more cushion than mine.