Dining chairs for all interiors, occasions and personalities

Whether it’s for work or play, we’re using our homes a lot more – and, in turn, demanding far more from our seating – these days. Chairs previously known as ‘dining’ chairs must also now work as task chairs, meeting chairs, comfortable lounge chairs and even as hard-backed stools to stand on.

But with each chair’s regular movement taking up valuable space on an interior planner’s graph paper, every square cm matters. When choosing a dining chair, decisions such as material, colour, shape and style are informed by the multitude of features it will undertake, and which type of household they’re chosen for.

In traditional homes with separate dining rooms, the accompanying dining chairs can often make a bigger statement than the table itself – often forcibly covered with inconsequential items like the actual dinner. Standing out with its brass feet and a brass inlay that runs down its spine, for example, Black Tie’s Olivia chair is every bit the image of sophistication and refined elegance its Made-in-Italy tag suggests, with a range of smooth, ruffled or delicately patterned upholstery options and contrast piping. The traditional look of moooi’s Smoke dining chair and armchair, meanwhile, is complemented with a post-apocalyptic style, achieved by burning its carved-wooden frame before upholstering in dark black leather.

For more informal space-sharing dining areas in open-plan environments or squeezed into kitchen corners, light and manoeuvrable dining chairs are a must. Balancing low weight with high strength, TON A.S.’s 18 chair sports the kind of dedication to design simplicity that makes its near-150-year presence at the top of the hospitality seating market easy to understand.

The armless beech chair can be lifted, shifted and repositioned with ease, enabling users to neatly tuck it away when out of use. An alternative space-saving option for rectilinear tables, meanwhile, is to move them closer to a wall by employing an open-ended bench like Sancal’s Menú.

At social dinner parties where the sport of sitting continues late into the evening – well after dessert is cleared away – a closer fitting, figure-hugging dining chair provides essential back support. The Sonny S series from Midj, for example, wraps the lower back in upholstered support while Riflessi’s Gisele chair corners higher up, but both unarmed chairs keep their exits clear. A flat-armed chair like Thonet’s 118 MF, meanwhile, alternatively gives users the chance to sit back and take a break with comfortable arm support.

In many households, mealtimes are one of the few occasions where the whole family comes together. Comfortable and supportive upholstered chairs help to extend that period for as long as possible once the food has gone. For families with younger children, however, upholstery simply isn’t worth the attached danger from spills and stains. With a colourful wipe-clean seat and back made from engineered recycled plastic, the Belloch chair from Santa & Cole offers no such danger. For standing stability, meanwhile, strong and sturdy options like Heerenhuis’ metal chair can support children’s countertop cooking lessons or secret fridge raids.

In open-plan environments, dining chairs are responsible for bringing collective joy to the interior whenever they’re in, and out of, use. Collections available in a variety of strong colours, such as Kartell’s Mr. Impossible series, allow users to both match and mix. Mr. Impossible’s technique of seamlessly welding its transparent legs with colourful seat shells creates a visual delight that’s hard to ignore. Aeris’ colourful Numo family, meanwhile, combines colour with engineering in function as well as form, by gently swaying and moving to support each user’s weight distribution.

For the kind of host whose dinner parties are always impromptu affairs where the guest list is comprised of whoever’s around rather than a local who’s who, flexible temporary seating is a key ingredient. Fold-out or extendable tables ensure there’s space for plenty of serving dishes, but where will everyone sit?

While desk chairs can be loaned and piano stools appropriated, more stability and support can be found in temporary fold-out chairs like the fold-flat FLAP chair from Gaber, which can hook onto walls or slide into extremely tight spaces, ensuring a friendly and comfortable meal is open to all.

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