A tuxedo sofa that keeps all of its decoration on the inside.

The Kingston holds one unbroken line from one arm, across the back, to the other — the tuxedo silhouette, where arms and back finish at exactly the same height. It is the most disciplined shape in upholstery, and the one that makes a room look composed rather than simply furnished.

The deep diamond buttoning runs across the inside back and carries on without a break around both inside arms. Each button is drawn down by hand and the folds between them are set by eye, so the pleats fall in the same direction across the whole field. Everything the buttoning touches faces into the room. The outside arms and outside back are left plain and piped, which means the sofa is finished on every face and can stand away from a wall or float in the middle of a room.

Two loose seat cushions sit on a plain deck, square-fronted and generously filled, so the sofa keeps its tailoring without asking you to sit upright in it. They can be turned and plumped, so they wear evenly over years rather than hollowing in one place. The seat sits at 48 cm — ordinary sofa height, and deliberately so. Against 81 cm of depth, that is a sofa you settle back into for an evening and still stand out of without pushing off the arms. The frame is kiln-dried hardwood.

It stands on a solid wood plinth with legs raked outward at the front and the rear — a mid-century stance that lifts the whole weight of the sofa clear of the floor and lets light run underneath. A cast brass Art Avenue plate is set into the outside arm.

Choose linen-cotton or velvet. The linen has a visible slub through the weave and softens with use, creasing lightly the way real linen does. The velvet has a short, dense pile that shifts tone as light crosses it and shades a little where people sit. Both are the character of the cloth rather than a fault in it. Twenty-seven colours across the two.

Four sizes, from a single armchair at 91 cm to a four seater at 229 cm, all built on the same 81 cm depth so they line up cleanly when combined in one room.

In leather, the same frame is the Chail Buttoned Leather Club Chair — the identical tuxedo line, dimensions and seat height as the single seater here, with hand-driven studs down the outside arms in place of the piping.

Construction

• Kiln-dried hardwood frame
• Deep diamond buttoning to the inside back and both inside arms, drawn down by hand
• Plain piped outside arms and outside back — finished on every face
• Two loose seat cushions on a plain deck, reversible
• Solid wood plinth with legs raked front and rear, in your choice of five wood finishes
• Cast brass Art Avenue plate set into the outside arm
• Linen-cotton or velvet, twenty-seven colours across the two
• 91 / 152 / 203 / 229 cm W × 81 cm D × 76 cm H
• Seat height 48 cm (19")
• 1, 2, 3 and 4 seater — and made to your own measurements
• Crafted in 6–8 weeks