Successful seating

Clara Ewart, head of design, Kitesgrove

The most important investment for a working space is a good chair and functionality does not need to come at the expense of comfort or aesthetics. Choose something that you love and which will support you throughout the day. When selecting the seating within a home office, it is important to consider the end user as well as the way it will be used in the space. Will you want to swivel around? To sit back while you ponder ideas? To kneel or stand sometimes? Factor this into the buying process.

We would always avoid choosing a desk chair for your home office that could fall under the category of ‘style over substance’. Perhaps more than any other piece of furniture in your home, comfort and ergonomics are of the highest importance when it comes to choosing an office chair, and there are ways to achieve this that don’t look too clunky.

If a workspace is within another room, there is a tendency for clients to prefer chairs that aren’t immediately identifiable as office furniture. Antique desk chairs can be a great solution in this scenario as they are not only designed for comfort and built to last, they are intrinsically more domestic by nature.

We recently designed a bespoke desk chair specifically for a discrete home office hidden in a secret cupboard that can be easily tucked away or brought out into the main room if extra seating is required.

To improve the aesthetic value of an office chair without compromising on comfort, choose high-end residential finishes in place of those more typically associated with commercial design, such as bronze to the base, legs or castors instead of chrome, or a textured upholstery fabric instead of faux leather.