A leather armchair is one of those purchases that sounds straightforward until you start looking properly. Then you realise how many of them are either trying too hard, all attitude and no comfort, or so safe they vanish into the room entirely. What we wanted to find were the ones that actually work in a real home. Not a showroom. Not a photography set with perfect light and nothing else in frame.

The leather matters enormously. How it ages, whether it softens or just scuffs, how it feels on an ordinary evening when you finally sit down. So does the scale. A chair that looks generous in a warehouse showroom can swallow a normal sitting room whole. We have looked at everything from clean lined contemporary shapes to more classic club styles and the criteria stayed the same throughout. Does it earn its place. Does it get better with time. Is it actually comfortable to sit in for more than twenty minutes. These are the ones that said yes to all three.