A good chair is looked at far longer than it is sat on. It stands at a desk through every quiet afternoon, waits at a dressing table, and is often the first thing seen from the doorway. Choosing one worth keeping comes down to five things.
1. Proportion before pattern
Comfort is mostly geometry. Most desks, dressing tables and dining tables stand between 72 and 76 centimetres high, and a seat of around 45 to 48 centimetres leaves a gap of roughly 25 to 30 centimetres: enough to sit comfortably, cross your legs and lean in. Measure the space around it too, so the chair can be drawn back without catching a wall.
2. The view from behind
At a desk or a table, a chair is mostly seen from the back. A statement chair earns its name from behind as much as from the front: a shaped backrest, a considered joint, a line that carries on round the curve. It is why the back of the Strata is a single crescent of steel and leather rather than a flat panel.
3. Materials that grow better with use
A chair used every day should be made of materials that improve with it. Full grain aniline leather develops a patina with touch, polished steel keeps its line for decades, and solid timber mellows. Be wary of finishes that look perfect in a showroom and tired within a year.
4. Comfort you can live with
Sit in it for longer than a minute. The backrest should meet the small of your back without pushing you forward, and the front edge of the seat should be soft enough not to press behind the knee. A gently domed, upholstered seat is kinder over a long letter or a long dinner than a hard flat one.
5. One, a pair, or a whole table
A statement chair works alone at a desk, as a pair at the heads of a table, or as a full set around it. What matters is that a set is chosen as carefully as a single chair: one leather throughout for calm, or two leathers for a quiet rhythm around the table.
The Strata Chair N1
The Strata stands 78 centimetres high with a seat at 46, and measures 52 by 54 centimetres. A mirror polished steel frame carries a slim spun tray, a softly domed leather seat and a crescent backrest, in seven full grain aniline leathers. It is at home at a desk, at a dressing table or around a dining table, and its First Edition is made for twelve homes, in sets of one to eight.