Sam Durgin

Sam Durgin

Product Design Leader

When I was in high school I watched my youth group leader, Jerry Voll, make a chair for a child with special needs. What started as a neighborly gesture developed into a family of products and a company that became Rifton Equipment.

Over the years I have appreciated working with Jerry and many others at Rifton who design our products. I enjoy the team work involved and working with therapists to meet the needs of children and adults with disabilities.

The latest design I have been working on is the Rifton Activity Chair. Check it out if you haven’t seen it!

I feel very blessed to be living at the Platte Clove community along with my wife Becky, and our six children. On the side I operate a hydroponic green house and maintain our blueberry patches.

A product designers tools: rasp, ruler, pen and paper

Designing the Rifton Activity Chair

March 13, 2012 by Sam Durgin

We have been making chairs for children with disabilities since the1970’s. Our first production models, though unique at the time, were primitive—plywood boxy frames covered with slots and knobs for...

A young boy in his small Rifton Activity Chair gets spoon fed by a woman using the device as a feeding chair.

Announcing the New Small Size Activity Chair

July 20, 2011 by Sam Durgin

The small Rifton Activity Chair is finally here. The success of the medium and large Rifton Activity Chairs prompted many requests for the chair to be sized for the smallest users. But it is not only...

A close-up view of the large Rifton Activity Chair in a posterior tilt

Announcing the Large Rifton Activity Chair

March 21, 2011 by Sam Durgin

A good thing just got bigger This week in our Catskill NY facility we are starting production of the large Rifton Activity Chair. It has taken us three years to get to this point. We began with two years...