A good armchair is one of the hardest things to get right in a room. Too bulky and it dominates. Too slight and it disappears. Too trendy and it dates. What we’re looking for is the chair that earns its place permanently, the one that looks considered from across the room and is genuinely comfortable once you’re in it. Those two things do not always come together as easily as they should.

We’ve been looking at proportion, at how a chair sits in relation to a sofa, at whether the upholstery is going to age well or just age. Fabric weight, frame quality, seat depth. The chairs that work in real rooms rather than just in styled photographs. There are pieces here in boucle and velvet and linen weaves, in shapes that reference mid century design without feeling like a costume. Some are statement pieces. Some are quieter. All of them are worth the investment.