BH | Studio Stockbridge Round-Back Dining Armchair

The chair whose back and arms form one continuous curve has deep roots in the horseshoe-backed armchairs of old China, and early American chairmakers found their own version in the continuous-arm Windsor, a single bent rail sweeping from one arm round the back to the other. Danish makers of the late 1940s refined the idea again into a round-backed wooden armchair that became one of the most admired chairs of the century, a plain, useful grace at home in the New England tradition of Stockbridge and the Berkshire hills.

This armchair follows that line. A single sculpted rail sweeps round to form the back and the arms, supporting the shoulders and giving the elbows somewhere to rest, carried on tapering, rounded legs in a warm, polished wood. The seat is a smooth wooden frame with a black cushioned pad set into it, comfortable for a long meal or a working afternoon, and the joints are softened so the whole chair looks as if it were carved from one piece.

Use a pair as carver chairs at the heads of a dining table, or set one at a desk in a study or home office where it will be sat in every day. In a living room or bedroom corner it makes a handsome occasional chair beside a bookcase. Black and warm wood look superb with oak floors, a wool rug, a good lamp and a sculptural ceramic on a plinth. This listing is for one chair.