BH | Studio Castleton Barrel-Back Dining Armchair

The barrel-back chair takes its name from its outline: a back that curves round the sitter in one continuous sweep, like the staves of a cask. Makers drew the shape up to tables and desks in the eighteenth century, and the deep, rounded tub chair carried it into the 1920s and 1930s.

This chair keeps that encircling back but opens it up: the curved top rail is cut away beneath, leaving a gap between back and seat that makes the whole chair look lighter. Broad, squared arms drop straight to the floor as solid side panels. Inside is a bentwood frame, and the seat is generously padded for long meals. The cover is a slub weave, a cloth with small irregular nubs in the yarn. The seat sits at 19 inches, right for a standard dining table, it is rated to hold 300 lbs, foot pins spare the floor, and it arrives fully assembled.

Pull a set round an oak table for long Sunday lunches, where the arms give everyone an elbow rest over coffee. On its own it works as an accent chair in a living room or at a desk in a home office. The slub weave sits quietly with limewashed walls and linen, and lets a brass pendant take the attention. This listing is for one chair.