A Chesterfield is defined by one thing: the arms stand as high as the back, so the sofa reads as a single unbroken run of buttoning from one end to the other. There is no relief anywhere in the shape and nowhere for a shortcut to hide, which is why the form has to be made properly or not attempted.

The back, both arms and the seat are deep-buttoned by hand in a diamond field, and the skirt below the seat line is buttoned again in its own row. Each button is drawn through the pad and tied off at the frame behind it, which is what pleats the cloth into the folds radiating from every button rather than pressing a pattern flat into the surface. On a four-seater that runs to several hundred buttons, each one pulled and tied on its own.

The arms roll over in a full scroll and the cloth is gathered into the curve by hand. Antique brass studs are then driven one at a time around the face of each scroll and down the front edge of the arm — a line that has to be set by eye, because it follows a curve no template fits.

The seat is buttoned into the deck rather than laid on as a loose cushion. It sits firmer than it looks and it holds its line for decades instead of softening into a hollow where people sit most.

Underneath is a kiln-dried hardwood frame on turned solid wood bun feet. The outside back and outside arms are left plain — no buttoning, no stud line — so the sofa reads quiet from behind and can stand out in a room rather than against a wall.

Linen is a natural fibre and behaves like one. It creases where you sit, and the slub runs unevenly through the weave; that is the cloth being itself rather than a fault in it. Velvet behaves differently again — the pile shades as it is brushed, so one colour reads light in one direction and dark in the other, and the seat will always show where someone has just been sitting.

Photographed in Pebble linen with dark wood feet and antique brass studs. Made to order in ten linen-cotton colours and ten velvets.

Construction

• Kiln-dried hardwood frame
• Deep-buttoned back, arms, seat and skirt — every button tied individually to the frame
• Chesterfield line — arms level with the back
• Full scroll arms, cloth gathered into the curve by hand
• Hand-driven studs around both arm scrolls and down the arm fronts
• Buttoned deck seat, not a loose cushion
• Turned solid wood bun feet
• 1 Seater — 107 cm W × 89 cm D × 76 cm H (42" × 35" × 30")
• 2 Seater — 163 cm W × 89 cm D × 76 cm H (64" × 35" × 30")
• 3 Seater — 213 cm W × 89 cm D × 76 cm H (84" × 35" × 30")
• 4 Seater — 244 cm W × 89 cm D × 76 cm H (96" × 35" × 30")
• Crafted in 6–8 weeks