Most armchairs drop their arms below the line of the back. This one doesn't. Arms and back finish level, so the chair reads as one squared block rather than a seat with two lumps attached — which is why a chair of this depth still sits quietly in a room instead of dominating it.

The back and both inside arms are deep-buttoned by hand in a diamond field. Each button is pulled through the pad individually and tied off at the frame behind it, which is what folds the leather into long diagonal creases rather than pressing a pattern into a flat panel. Carrying that buttoning around the inside arms instead of stopping it at the back roughly doubles the hand-work in the chair, and it is the reason the inside of the chair catches light across three planes at once.

Studs are driven one at a time down the front edge of both outside arms, a single line set against plain leather. The outside arms and the outside back are deliberately left flat — no buttoning, no seam running across the face — so the chair reads calm from behind and tailored from the front. Every visible surface is upholstered, which means it can stand out in a room rather than being pushed against a wall.

The seat is a loose cushion, not a fixed pad. It can be turned and plumped, so it wears evenly over years instead of hollowing in one place. It sits at 48 cm — ordinary armchair height, and deliberately so. Against 81 cm of depth, that is a chair you settle back into for an evening rather than perch on at a desk, and still one you stand out of without pushing off the arms.

Underneath is a kiln-dried hardwood frame sitting on a solid wood plinth, with legs raked outward front and back — a base that lifts the mass clear of the floor and keeps a square chair from looking like a crate.

Leather is a hide, not a fabric. Tone and grain shift from hide to hide, and the arm tops and the front edge of the cushion will lighten before the rest of the chair does. That is the material behaving correctly, and it is why the chair you receive will not match these photographs exactly.

Photographed in Espresso, a near-black coffee brown, with Walnut legs and antique brass studs. Made to order in eleven upholstery leathers, with your choice of leg finish and stud metal.

In fabric, and in sofa sizes, the same frame is the Kingston Buttoned Fabric Sofa — the identical tuxedo line and buttoning, in linen-cotton or velvet, from a single seater at this chair's exact dimensions up to a four seater at 229 cm.

Construction

• Kiln-dried hardwood frame
• Deep-buttoned back and inside arms, each button tied individually to the frame
• Tuxedo line — arms and back finish at one height
• Hand-driven studs down the front edge of both outside arms
• Loose seat cushion, reversible
• Upholstery leather on every visible face, outside back included
• Solid wood plinth with raked legs front and rear
• 91 cm W × 81 cm D × 76 cm H (36" W × 32" D × 30" H)
• Seat height 48 cm (19")
• Crafted in 6–8 weeks