Sunon's story starts with a wobbly desk. Its founder, Liangzheng Ni, grew up in a small village where his father worked for the local government, in an office with just two pieces of old, cracked furniture: a two-drawer writing desk and a wooden chair. When his father worked long hours, the desk and chair would wobble and even pinch him, and young Mr Ni thought how good it would be if furniture were more secure. That thought led him to become a carpenter and to pursue beautifully crafted furniture.

After honing his woodworking skills, Mr Ni moved to the city to work in a furniture factory, and later started a carpentry workshop with his crew. In 1991 that workshop became Sunon, processing materials for other brands in a rented house beside Xiaohe Road in Hangzhou. The Chinese name 圣奥 is rendered as Sunon, meaning sun on, a symbol of a company rising like the sun and striving for excellence. Sunon developed its first office furniture product in 1996, registered its trademark in 1999, and exhibited at ORGATEC in Cologne for the first time in 2008.

Growth since then has been remarkable, but it has been built on investment in design and making. Sunon runs a global R&D model anchored by its Hangzhou R&D Center, with further centres in Berlin, established in 2018, and Los Angeles. It works with studios across Europe including ITO Design, Claudio Bellini, Alegre Design and Favaretto & Partners, introduces around ten new series a year, and held more than 1,600 patents as of January 2024. Its LEADING series won an iF Design Award in 2010, and its products are certified to BIFMA and GREENGUARD standards.

Today Sunon operates manufacturing bases in China and Mexico, sells through a strong dealer network and more than 50 experience centres, and has worked with around 100 of the global Fortune 500. The company describes its purpose as creating safe, healthy and intelligent workspaces, with values of care for clients, respect for diversity and inclusion, integrity and continuous improvement. For Australian workplaces, Sunon offers a rare combination: a complete portfolio from task chairs and workstations to lounge, storage and pods, designed with European partners and made at scale.