BH | Studio Ledbury Waisted-Back Dining Chairs, Set of 4

The waisted back, broad at the shoulders and drawn in just above the seat, goes back to the balloon-back dining chairs of early Victorian England, when chair makers began shaping backs to follow the body. Upholster that outline fully, add a row of nailheads, and it becomes the kind of chair found in good dining rooms ever since.

Each of these four chairs has a back that narrows to a waist above the seat and then flares into low, rolled side panels that rest your arms without getting in the way at the table. The seat is generously padded with foam for comfort through a long dinner, nailheads outline the seat and sides, and the cover is a woven polyester fabric in Oyster or Dove. Tapered wooden legs finish in non-marking caps, so the chairs slide in and out quietly.

Set them around an oval table in a traditional dining room with a sideboard, a pair of candlesticks and the good china ready for Sunday lunch. The shape is just as at ease in a modern room around a glass or white table. Either shade with a ring of nailheads looks lovely against toile wallpaper, a mahogany sideboard and an old Persian rug. This listing is for a set of four chairs.