Bobbin-Turned Armchair in Solid Teak, White Linen with Double Brass Nailhead Trim — Louis XIII Manner

About this object

An armchair in the Louis XIII manner — the bobbin chair, the oldest upholstered chair form still in production anywhere. Every vertical member is turned in continuous spools: legs, back posts, arm supports and the stretchers that brace them, all in solid teak polished to a deep walnut tone. Against this dark rhythm sits the upholstery — a white textured linen weave on the tall back panel and generous seat — framed by a double row of antiqued brass nailheads, the seventeenth century's original decorative hardware. The arms are flat and scrolled at the hand, made for resting a forearm through a long conversation. Bobbin turning is a discipline of repetition: each spool on each member must match its neighbours in diameter and spacing, and a single chair carries well over a hundred of them — the eye counts unconsciously, and forgives nothing uneven. The stretcher box near the floor is not ornament but engineering; it is why seventeenth-century chairs of this pattern survive in usable condition four hundred years on, and why this one will outlast every glued modern frame in the house. The nailheads are set individually by hand, each tapped home in sequence — a double row around back and seat is several hundred placements, and the straightness of those lines is the upholsterer's signature. The bobbin chair is having its loudest moment in a century — it anchors the current English country revival from Belgravia to Bandra — but the form predates every trend it will outlive. It works as the bedroom chair beside a nightstand, as a pair flanking a console, at the head of a dining table as carvers, or pulled to a writing desk. The dark spool frame against white linen gives a room its punctuation mark. Fabric, polish tone and nailhead finish adjustable at order; available as a single, a pair, or a set of dining carvers.