The Perfect Seat: Choosing Dining Chairs That Actually Work

Buying dining chairs should be fun, but it’s also one of the fastest ways to waste money if you skip the basics. Bree Banfield and Lauren Li, are getting practical about how to choose dining chairs that look great, feel comfortable, and actually work in your home day to day.

We start with the brief most people forget to write: who’s sitting there, how long they’ll stay, and what kind of meals happen at your table. That simple thinking leads straight into the details that decide whether you’ll love your chairs for years or quietly resent them. We talk arms and mobility, casual versus formal dining, and why your location matters more than you think (hello beach towels, chlorine, and fabrics that can’t cope).

From there we go deep on fit: chair width, how many seats you can realistically fit, and how the chair interacts with your table base. We also cover the underrated annoyances like chair legs snagging on a dining rug, scratched timber floors, and why “matching” can backfire. If you want upholstered dining chairs but you’ve got kids, we share what’s changed in outdoor fabrics and why they’re now a genuinely stylish, durable option. We also get into leather, vegan leather, patina, and what you’re signing up for with each.

You’ll hear our favourite chair picks, plus a more grounded shortlist of brands and stores to explore when budget matters. We also share what’s coming up for Design Anatomy, including our Sydney Milan in Review event at Hali Rugs on 24th June at 6 pm and our live podcast on 17th July at the Melbourne Convention Centre where we answer your questions.

Sydney Milan in review 24th June 6pm event tickets here

Live Design Anatomy Podcast Melbourne - Decor + Design Show 17th July 12pm

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Transcript

Welcome, Events, And Short Break

Speaker 0:01

Welcome to Design Anatomy, the interior design podcast hosted by friends and fellow designers, me, Bree Banfield.

Speaker 2 0:07

And me, Lauren Li, with some amazing guest appearances along the way. We're here to break down everything from current trends to timeless style.

Speaker 0:14

With a shared passion for joyful, colour filled and lived in spaces, we're excited to share our insights and inspiration with you.

Speaker 2 0:23

And I think that when you hear this, we will be gearing up for our Sydney Milan in review event. We're so excited to be coming up to Sydney because the Melbourne model was so fun.

Speaker 0:36

It was really great, and hopefully, you know, you would have seen some things on socials. We got lots of great feedback, everyone took so much away from it, and we had fun, we had food and drink, Milan-inspired food, which was beautiful. Um, that Vicasha was amazing. I always talk about the food, sorry.

Speaker 2 0:55

Oh well, yeah. I mean, Harley, know how to put on a really beautiful event and just such cool people. It's just an absolute pleasure. It was a good one. And I actually got some it was a great vibe. I actually got a cute DM from someone who said that they came along and they, you know, enjoyed it and all of that, which was cute. But she said, Oh, and I've got a client at the moment who has leather armchairs, and I was like freaking out a bit. But when I saw you present and you showed some really beautiful leather, maybe I can sort of take them along, you know, sort of bent on it. And I was like, happy to be of service if that has helped you. It was very cute.

Speaker 1:31

So if you're in Sydney, uh please come and join us. You'll be able to find the link to the tickets in the bio on Instagram for Design Anatomy. I think I've got it in my bio as well. Actually, I probably need to update it. Still as Melbourne, change that to Sydney. I know I think I've got both. Um, or you know, DM us if you can't find it, but we'd absolutely love to see you there at Hali Rugs in Sydney on the 24th of June, Wednesday the 24th at 6 p.m.

Speaker 2 2:00

So fun. And also, if you're an interior designer that's listening, come and join me in the conversation circle. It's a small group of designers. We talk about all the things, um, but basically, we really want to transform your business in a three-month period. So, yeah, drop me a line if you're curious to join. So, we also have some other news in terms of we're just taking a couple of weeks break while we prepare for the next season of Design Anatomy.

Speaker 2:30

Yes, we won't be gone for long. You'll just enough time for you to miss us.

Speaker 2 2:35

And we're not really gone because we have got a whole lot of really cool guest um guests lined up and great conversations. So that is really exciting.

Why Dining Chairs Need A Brief

Speaker 2 2:45

And today we're talking about dining chairs.

Speaker 2:47

We are, we're continuing our little series of um what to look for when you're searching for these things. And dining chairs can be a really interesting one. We're always looking for the perfect one at the perfect price point.

Speaker 2 3:01

Exactly. And there's so many criteria that I think you need to look at, you need to ask yourself before you even start looking at a chair. I think that's sort of a bit of a recurring theme, Bree. Like where you sort of know that if you're looking for furniture, the first thing you might do is just jump online, jump onto Pinterest. But really, there's so many questions you kind of need to ask yourself before you even start looking.

Speaker 3:24

Yeah, you need to give yourself a if you're shopping for yourself, you need to give yourself a brief, not just go wandering along or, you know, meandering through the internet, looking at things and going, oh, that's pretty, or maybe we could have that. You need to kind of have a bit of an understanding of the basics first.

Who Uses Them And How Long

Speaker 3:41

Like I think we start with who's using it. Like, is it you and your partner? You and your dog, you and your cat, you and your rabbit, maybe. I don't know. Guinea pigs? Oh, guinea pigs are in the lounge room at the moment. Or is it a family with toddlers and teenagers? And yeah. So that I think that's the first bit I would look at from a brief. What do you think?

Speaker 2 4:03

Yeah. And I think that, yeah, you can overlook it. Maybe you might be have some guests that come over, older parents, grandparents. Is mobility a consideration? Are they going to be able to, do they want an armrest to kind of pull them, lift themselves out, you know, like um all of those kind of things.

Speaker 4:21

And and how long are you going to be sitting on them for? I know I have a lot of clients who'll say, we entertain and I I cannot have a timber dining chair. It has to be comfortable. Although, having said that, some timber dining chairs are really comfortable. But I think you have to think about are you going to be there for hours or are you there for like half an hour and it's done?

Speaker 2 4:40

Totally. And I think, you know, it comes to the next point, which I guess is which meals are shared on this, on these chairs? Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 4:49

Yeah. Is it like the casual area or the the formal dining?

Speaker 2 4:53

Exactly. Is it a a quick breakfast cereal at the table situation? Or is it formal three-course meal, like, you know, and you want something really comfortable and upholstered that you are going to be sitting there for up to an hour or two. So I think if you can figure out who's sitting on the chairs and then what kind of meals, that helps you sort of define what kind of chair you might be looking for.

Speaker 5:18

I think that those two things almost like combine, don't they, when you think about like the details of the chair. So the comfort factor might be affected by upholstered or non-upholstered. I think another thing is like if it's if it's um like a woven, like say like a rattan chair, I can't sit in those for a long time. You know how you just like, oh, I need a little seat pad, or you end up with like basically the indentation in your butt from from whatever the slats are. So they look amazing and they have that lovely kind of casual style to them, and there's some beautiful rattan chairs. But do you want to be sitting on them for hours? I don't I don't think you do, do you?

Speaker 2 5:56

No, I would say it's probably more of a casual dining sort of thing. Exactly. But it depends, like you know, when you s when you were saying that you get the indent in your skin, but if it is a a summer beach house location, maybe you are gonna be wearing shorts and stuff. And that I even thought of the location. Yeah, that makes it worse.

Speaker 6:17

Oh, the location, yeah. Yeah, the location. So if you are you gonna be coming in from the pool on the beach sitting on the chair because then you probably don't want a velvet, you know, high-end body mohair velvet or something, and then you're sitting on it in chlorine or or silver. It's a beach tail draped over it and you're just horrified. Because that's always, I mean, no matter what, there's always a beach tail draped over something. There is when you're on holiday. Exactly. Um, yeah, so I think the comfort factor, and then you know, you mentioned arms, that is also can be a bit of a comfort factor. Some people don't like that vibe of having that sort of I don't know, they don't have to be closed arms, they can be open, but that can also be annoying and get in the way sometimes, right?

Make Chairs Work With The Table

Speaker 2 7:00

Well, I think that comes to the third point, which is how do the chairs work with the table?

Speaker 7:05

Yes, people make that mistake often, I think, where they go, oh, I can't actually push it all the way in. And that can come down to the dining table too, because if you've got like a column base, for instance, you might have a bit more room. But if you've got, you know, legs to work around, you know, you need to factor that into when you're you're starting with the dining table and that's already there, all of that has to be factored in, right? That's how comfortably you want to sit. So some people like a wider chair, but that might mean they can't fit as many people. So you might have to have a more narrow chair, for instance, to be able to fit the amount of people you want to fit on the dining table.

Speaker 2 7:41

And also, I don't think all the chairs need to be the same. So maybe you might like it. I love, I love Miss Natch chairs. Well, also sort of it's um about not matching, it's coordinating, which is kind of like you might want to have the chairs at the end of the table a bit more of a statement chair with the arm. Or a higher back or something. Yeah, that's cool. Um, and also you might have the dimensions of the table top, but you need to measure from leg to leg so that you can fit in those chairs. Like all those little things can just trim.

Speaker 8:12

The amount of times, you know, where you're like, oh, that person's gonna sit, even if it's close to the leg of the table, even just like getting in and out when someone else is on the other side of you can be really awkward. That's true. So you really do have to think about where that leg sits. You want it to be generous. Yeah. And then I've come across something recently that I probably hadn't put enough thought into, and that's in that's when you have a rug underneath your dining table. How do the chairs interact with the rug? So for instance, uh a client had existing chairs and we had a new rug put in, and then they sort of went, we're not loving the way the chairs kind of get, they had quite sort of pointy legs, I suppose. So they're kind of getting caught in the rug a bit. So they're getting a bit annoyed about having to like lift them up to pull them out from under the table. So for it, we were sort of going, okay, well, maybe we need to look like a sled base or something like that. Or I guess it's a chair that has like a bit more of a rounded end to the leg would make a smoother transition. I must admit, I hadn't thought a lot about it until that happened. And then I went, okay, that's actually a really good point.

Speaker 2 9:16

And I mean, it's a really good point because I mean, you think, oh, that's such a small detail, don't worry about it. But if you're if it's your table for every day and you're really getting in and out multiple times a day, it's just irritating. And you just think all this money on a gorgeous rug that's just get rid of it. Like, and what a waste.

Speaker 9:32

Well that's so then we had to have that whole conversation. Do we change the rug? Do we change the chairs? It was like it was a whole, yeah. So yeah, I think that's just something to throw out there and and think about. And I guess even if you have a beautiful timber floor and you want to be a bit more careful about people dragging the chairs, you do need to think about what is the bottom of that leg look like and how like will it scratch? Because the you know what the worst thing is to realize you get something and go, that's gonna scratch, and you have to put some horrible little sort of stocker or something on the bottom of the leg and it looks really crap and you've got this beautiful chair.

Speaker 2 10:06

Yeah, that is not the vibe. Oh my god. Um, and I suppose continuing on that is material combination.

Mixing Materials Without Matching

Speaker 2 10:14

So because you, you know, you sort of said mismatch before, which yeah, I actually like to coordinate rather than match. You might have a gorgeous timber table. It doesn't mean you have to have also timber chairs.

Speaker 10:28

I kind of like not having timber chairs if I've got a timber table. I don't I don't I can't even think the last time I would have ever had matching chairs in terms of material. I think I'd always contrast it.

Speaker 2 10:40

So, what would you do with a timber table?

Speaker 10:42

Uh oh, I feel like you could do anything, you could do something similar, like we mentioned Ratan before, which has like I guess a bit of a tactile feel to it, if that's the vibe going with the timber. But I would rather have probably a colour or have, you know, maybe a contrast in some math. I'm so surprising, aren't I?

Speaker 2 11:05

So when you say a colour, can you break that down a bit further? Like what kind of material would that be?

Speaker 11:11

Well, you could still have a timber chair, so you can tell it's timber, but it's a coloured timber. Okay, cool. Or maybe you contrast it with a darker timber to a lighter. Yeah. Like that's also possible. But I I think I very much avoid the whole matching exactly. And also, unless you're literally buying a set that comes in exactly the same timber, which I also don't recommend. It's never going to match anyway. So you better like push it away from it rather than trying to bring it too close because otherwise then it looks like you tried to match it and you didn't. And they just missed.

Speaker 2 11:43

Yeah. Yeah. I like the idea of a colour, and it could be plastic. And uh, that sounds gross.

Speaker 11:51

I actually love a plastic or a fire glass.

Speaker 2 11:53

Yeah, these vitra chairs I saw um Living Edge do. Yeah, Living Edge and In Good Company do it's a vitra chair. I I just discovered them and they come in the most gorgeous colours.

Speaker 12:04

I know the one you're talking about.

Speaker 2 12:07

Yeah, it's awesome.

Speaker 12:08

You can get awesome vintage ones too. Um I I'm always on the hunt for a really great vintage plastic chair. I don't know. I've got a bit of a thing for them actually. I think it's cool.

Speaker 2 12:19

I also like mixing if you've got a timber table, a black steel leg. Oh, yes. I think that's that the lightness of that, the fineness, it is a nice contrast to a heavy timber.

Speaker 12:31

Yeah, so instead of just the material contrast, it's actually the scale, like the presence of it is a little bit lighter compared to a timber which tends to be much heavier, right?

Speaker 2 12:41

I think so.

Speaker 12:42

And also fully upholstered in a colour of fabric.

Upholstery Options For Real Homes

Speaker 12:46

I love a fully upholstered too. I mean, that comes back to obviously it's really interesting actually, because that's a uh something that I think a lot of clients come up against is they want a fully upholstered or a semi-upholstered chair, but then on the flip side, they'll go, oh, but we have kids and we need to be able to clean it. And we're like, well, sure, but they're still gonna get wear and tear or if you have upholstery. If you're really worried about that, you have to go to some sort of wipable material, right? But I don't know, have you I've I've sort of looked at just specifying like outdoor fabric.

Speaker 2 13:18

Yeah.

Speaker 13:18

So it's a bit more durable.

Speaker 2 13:20

Yeah, we we have collected quite a few gorgeous samples of outdoor fabric.

Speaker 13:26

No, they never used to be. No, you're right. So many more options, and you couldn't you can't tell, whereas I think before they looked very outdoor, even in the style and the colours, they'd always be like bright and sunny or whatever. Whereas you can get really quite beautiful, sophisticated outdoor fabrics now. I think Mochum do some great ones.

Speaker 2 13:46

Mochum do, and I think the textile company and also Pierre Frey have some really cool outdoor.

Speaker 13:55

I love that brand, but I always get a bit scared of the price.

Speaker 2 13:59

Yes, we have options in case. But um, I I have to say, I um we're in the process of reupholstering some chairs for a client. She's got some vintage chairs, and I sort of said to her we could try outdoor fabrics, and she sort of wasn't really that excited, but when I bought them, she was like, Oh, oh my god.

Speaker 14:18

Yeah, because yep, they've changed so much. I think your impression of an outdoor fabric, yeah, absolutely. Um, and I really that that's only really changed, I'd say, in the last two years. That's kind of and they're getting better and better, right?

Speaker 2 14:31

Yeah, well, I think the thing is they um it's basically a poly polyester, polypropylene or something viscous or a combination. And um the fibre, it's like an extra true extruded fibre. It's not like a dye on top.

Speaker 14:46

Penetrable, yeah.

Speaker 2 14:47

Exactly.

Speaker 14:48

So it can't, because it can't. So it sounds well, I guess, to explain to people going what what difference does an outdoor fabric make? Exactly what you're saying. It's designed so that it doesn't fade. So they don't then it's not necessarily designed um not to stain. Fading would be the first thing, but as a result of that, it won't stain as much either because the colour is all the way through that fiber. And because of the type of fibre it is, it's just much less resistant to staining.

Speaker 2 15:15

So yeah, I it's a hard one. I think you know, a family with a busy busy family with kids toddlers, all the rest. You know, one of our kids just would spill milk every single time, every single time, every single day. And it's really annoying. But um, now we've got we've still got a four-year-old, but I'll just say we've got we've got upholstered chairs where you've got an upholstered seat and a back. That's really quite a non-issue. Yeah. No one's spilling like balls and it's a little bit more.

Speaker 15:45

It probably just goes on their clothes. Exactly. I find usually it's the kids who get it on their hands and then they put their hands on the seat. Ah, so not necessarily spilling the food, they've just got food on their hands and then so the edge of the seat might get a little bit.

Speaker 2 16:00

The edge of the seat or the backrest, people are pulling it open, pulling it out. Um but uh I think it's still it's doable. And if you're afraid of fabric, you could also look at a leather or dare I say a vegan leather. Yes, there's a few really good ones around. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 16:19

Yes, and they come in great colour ranges too. And honestly, they don't I think again, it it does depend on price point. You can definitely get cheap vinyl-looking chairs, but if you specify really good, you know, vegan leather, I love how we call it vegan leather now. Usually it's vinyl. Yeah, it's plastic. Come on. Sounds much fancy. Um, although they have, I think they're made a lot better now than like the the good ones. Absolutely. But they can look they can look just as nice as leather easily. Yeah, and they can give it a pretty well. I like leather because a good leather isn't supposed to stay perfect. It's like when we talk about stone and patinas and all that sort of stuff, a good leather should actually get better over time. Um, the more you sit on it and the more you use it and sort of gets a bit softer and maybe it's sort of fades in areas. But if you I think have the right chair with the right leather, that actually adds to the, I don't know, the character of the chair to say.

Speaker 2 17:13

And I had this conversation with a client because we're doing a banquette seat and we've got the outdoor fabric to the backrest, and then the seat is a leather. And I and I feel like I I knew she'd get it, but I just feel like I have to say, do you want real leather or do you want vinyl? She's like, I want real leather. Okay, cool. Yeah. The only thing is with a vinyl, you can really give it a good old scrub and it's going to look the same.

Speaker 17:35

Different care factor.

Speaker 2 17:37

Yes, but with leather.

Speaker 17:38

Any kind of natural fibre, you've got to pay a little more attention to it, I think.

Speaker 2 17:42

Yeah, but with the leather, you know, she said, Oh no, I want real leather because I understand like it's going to patina, it's going to add character. It's like music to my ears. She's she's a good one. She gets it. She gets it.

Budget Reality And Reupholstery Calls

Speaker 2 17:55

And I suppose, you know, talking about price point, I think that would be the fourth point, which you brought up.

Speaker 18:00

That's the hardest, honestly. It's really hard. Because, okay, individually, a dining chair, I would say you'd struggle to find a a great, a really good one, probably under a thousand dollars. And people will be going, what? Some of our listeners will be like, that's ridiculous. You can find them. We're just saying that you'll it'll be a compromise and you it'll won't be bespoke. You won't probably be able to choose many different finishes and colors. And how long is it going to last? Don't know. I mean, there's some probably good price point chairs out there, but depending on what you want, you might not be able to get your price point. Like if you're going, okay, I want a fully upholstered chair. Well, don't expect to pay less than that for a decent one unless it's like mass-produced and kind of, I don't know, will the fabric will either wear thin, stain really easily, especially like velvets and stuff, will just like rub back to nothing. Dining chairs have to be durable, even with it, doesn't matter if you don't have a family. I think dining chairs need to actually be a durable chair. That's my take on it. Unless you're like, okay, they sit in the front formal dining room, we'll use them at Christmas only. Yeah. Right? Agree. And I and then how many you need. So sorry. And then the budget thing is like, okay, sure, it's $800 a chair. Oh, that's not so bad. Okay, we need $10.

Speaker 2 19:14

Yeah.

Speaker 19:15

There's $8,000. Like it's just like that.

Speaker 2 19:17

Yeah, just like that. Um, and I think that, yeah, uh, under $1,000 for an upholstered chair, it does become a bit tricky. And I I know that clients exactly in the start, as you say, the start of the journey looking, they're like, how hard is it? But then you present them with the options or they start thinking, oh, I'll just start looking.

Speaker 19:34

Or whatever.

Speaker 2 19:35

I don't know. And they're still in the middle of the thing.

Speaker 19:36

And if you reupholster, I think, you know, I've been down that path with a client who's got existing chairs and they're just they're not right because it's the wrong, wrong fabric or whatever it is. And usually it's because when they were purchased, they were bought it, let's say, I don't know, like a uh a brand that makes that chair in that one color. And so it was gray or beige or charcoal. And so they're they're like, well, it's not really us. They probably didn't buy it because of that. They just sort of went, oh, that'll do, and it was at the right price point. So I'm like, well, you know, it's not a bad chair. Maybe we can just upholster it. And then you go down the path of looking at the cost of doing that and trying to find the right fabric at the right price and then have it upholstered. You're like, well, are they worth upholstering or should we just get a new chair? So, like, I think it's really hard to do it well on a budget unless you've got like big compromises.

Speaker 2 20:24

Yeah. Also, some clients want made in Australia, which is a bit limited as well, because we don't really have as many crafts people making chairs as we used to, but Dow Jones are a really amazing example. And a great price point. Great price point.

Speaker 20:39

Really good price point.

Speaker 2 20:41

Great design, great people, like ticking a lot of boxes.

Speaker 20:45

Absolutely, would highly recommend.

Speaker 2 20:47

Yeah, they're called Dal Jones. They're based in Geelong, I think.

Speaker 20:50

And if you do want to spend a bit more, what I think, you know, we're talking about um our sort of go-to chairs.

Favourite Chair Picks And Design Icons

Speaker 20:56

One of mine would be a Gratz Rinko, the Featherston chairs. I really love the Re chair. It's got kind of like a little wraparound back and it's got those kind of 50s steel legs, you know, the thin steel legs, but like a beautifully upholstered um shell. I love that. And then in that, like, you know, I think when they both they first re-released that, Grazia did it in this beautiful sort of pinstripe fabric, and it just looked so amazing and so elevated. So you can kind of like that's what I love about a I guess an upholstered chair is you can kind of bring in a lot more character to it, maybe when you you can choose like an amazing fabric and kind of, I don't know. And that's that's a time too where you can do the whole like maybe it's this fabric but three different colours, and each chair is in like you know, you've got a few different colours in the same fabric or something fun like that.

Speaker 2 21:41

It's really personable, isn't it? Like a personal way to yeah, to do that.

Speaker 21:46

Sorry, back to the budget ones.

Speaker 2 21:48

Yeah, well, I was gonna say, I mean, we do have our favourites that we want to talk through, so why don't we yeah.

Speaker 21:53

Yeah.

Speaker 2 21:54

What none of mine are affordable. No, neither of mine. I have I some

Speaker 22:00

them I've got a price on them like never using that chair but actually the one of mine is like sort of affordable my absolute favourite chair that I actually want for myself is the hay chair the ray chair um the hay ray the hay ray chair which is it's a it's a timber chair it's very simple it's got a little curved a round seat sort of thin but wide legs and then just a kind of little rounded back but it's open but it comes in really great colours and I'm quite obsessed with the scarlet red um I don't know right ever since I first saw it it's just was love at first sight and I will never get that out of my head and hopefully one day I'll own a set and you can get them vintage as well they've been around for a while. I can't I wonder designed no it's like it's got a I'd say it's satin. Oh yeah cool. 1971 not surprisingly because I love my 70s. And yeah it comes in just like it comes in a beautiful blue like a kind of powder blue lovely dark burgundy kind of colour a caramely tone a green sort of a blink soft aqua I'd probably got a great way to add some colour to your space. Yeah and you can get the little stool slash side table version as well but yeah I don't know that's so because I couldn't afford those when I um put dining chairs around I have a great table from Didia which is Australian mage it's a powder blue and I wanted the red hay chair but at the time couldn't afford to invest because I need sort of six of them and they're about a thousand dollars so you can probably might be able to get them a little bit cheaper and if they're vintage maybe you can I'm not sure and you can get an upholstered seat for the vintage ones as well which I think is really cute. But I ended up buying IKEA chairs and I painted them red. Oh did you have red chairs that's a good idea. I shouldn't say I painted them red I made my son paint them who are the owners of Hayes you know I get the I get the combination that I wanted which was sort of that beautiful sort of tomato red with the powder blue which one a couple of years ago now I think.

Speaker 2 24:05

Oh cool um if the founders of Hay are listening yeah please I'd love them yes I actually say I think it's um yeah Rolf Hay and Met Hay they bought this amazing villa in Italy we need to go there we need to go there I would like to go there yes we do need to go there that just went to the top of the list for next year one of my favourite chairs is by living Devani so they always have some kind of little off centre kind of chairs. It's Dr. George's chair and it is a really sculptural chair it's like a um I don't know if you can see that one it's beautiful with that sort of diagonal leg at the back and then sort of straight leg at the front yeah it's and then a gorgeous curve backrest? Yeah it's got is that upholstered cane it's got like a cane backrest and it's really slender and it yeah it's very sculptual as you said it's got this kind of back back legs that come from the front of the armrest back. So it's just a really interesting and beautiful and elegant and not too heavy so it's if you've got like a heavy timber chair that would be my go-to it's just timber table.

Speaker 25:26

Yep timber table sorry yeah um the other one that I absolutely love is the tulip chair um the Pierre Pauline one the little tulip stunning I also do love the knoll tulip side chair that has like the upholstered seat and the little like tulip base to it so the little swivel chair but the the Pierre Paulan one the has this sort of very elegant uh arm that just like curves down into the seat in one piece and then just like a kind of an oval back to it and then it's just on a single column base which would be my second favourite chair would be like having a column base chair with little I love those that kind of very it's very sort of 70s isn't it yeah and I love a swivel love.

Speaker 2 26:11

Beautiful another one of my faves is by Moroso designed by Patricia Erciola. It's the Matilda chair yeah that's gorgeous. And there's so much character to that chair isn't there because there's a the back rest is upholstered you can do it in a leather you can do it in a fabric or probably a timber and then there's a seat you can do that in a different fabric but then there's this special binding on the armrest that you can do in a leather or a coloured it's like a piping like a puffy piping it's just really beautiful and very I love all the combos actually the only problem with that chair is trying to decide which combination to do. I know and I think if you did every one different it might get a little chaotic but yeah I could how could you decide when all of the options are so cool so good.

Speaker 26:58

I have one more do you have one more I do all right I'll go for it um this is the MR side chair so um by Ms Van Ms Van derol is that French or it's French isn't it Ms Van der Ms Van der I try and sound French and I just sound Italian. Oh you probably was German. Yeah so that's a sled I was saying before I love a sled based chair as well. So but this one's beautiful because the front is like a full sort of semicircle curve and then it goes down into the sled. And I think comes in a few different finishes like you can get the I guess the re-released versions now you could get like a red powder coat on the frame for instance and then the rattan seat. So I kind of like the vibe of those I like the materiality contrast so you can get it in a chrome for instance or um I think you can get a leather as well so like you know like a sort of sling leather style. No that's kind of the classic one which changes the whole vibe of it totally or you can do the rattan it's the MR side chair. Um maybe but it's null the best sorry it's null branch before we we'll we'll post some on um socials so you can see what we're wearing. Yeah oh it's amazing gorgeous it's just a classic I think nearly all of the chairs I like actually aren't new designs. I just realized yeah yeah they're all vintage the or a lot of them obviously have been re-released but yeah I don't know I guess they don't make them like they used to maybe well one of them I love as well um my last one and I don't even know the date of it it is by Tacini and it's called the Sempronia chair uh it's designed by Tobia Scarpa who is a designer that they use a lot and it's fully upholstered so it has a really simple sort of shape but it's got really lovely soft round edges kind of a nice column leg that's all upholstered as well and we we saw those in Milan I don't know I think yeah I think they're quite a new re-release stunning they're they're a beautiful classic chair and do they actually also make that in a non-upholstered version of like I've seen that shape before like in the maybe I'm getting it confused with the I think it's uh magistretti the plastic ones I kind of have that vibe to them the shape of the back you know the ones I'm talking about the vintage ones they remind me of that they're just the sort of square um seat and then a sort of slightly you know rounded square seat and rounded square back reminds me of that but they are really cool.

Better Value Brands And Where To Look

Speaker 2 29:30

They're beautiful were the tips that we sort of had about choosing a dining chair and I suppose all I would add is that if you can test it out obviously um what else?

Speaker 29:42

And what and I think I'm trying to think of um I know there'll be people that go great thanks for all those really high-end recommendations. Yeah um I know we said Dell Jones I'm trying to think of some other great go-to's if you are on a budget and you just like you want something that's just not gonna I guess fall apart. I honestly I actually highly value a lot of IKEA chairs. I think if you go on marketplace you'll find vintage IKEA and they're still in really good condition. I mean I maybe not every single one of their designs but I think if you're looking for something that's got a bit of style to it and they have lots of interesting I guess versions of things I do think IKEA is kind of a good go-to as a base. Agree. I would prefer an IKEA over say a sorry I shouldn't probably mention brands that like a Freedom or a West Elm I'd probably prefer IKEA but maybe that's a style thing as well.

Speaker 2 30:34

Well I was gonna say West Elm because I think they do have some really cool chairs as well like we've I think they're gonna be out there and even there is a store on Church Street in Richmond. It's called Voyager. I've found some good chairs there and they're pretty well priced.

Speaker 30:53

I do I sometimes forget about them. I think I used to look at their stuff quite a lot and they do have some brands there that are well made and yeah I think probably Spanish the yeah the difference is that maybe they they get purchased like you know they bulk purchase so they can actually offer them at a reasonable price. I think the other good one is maybe is it Relax House? They're still around so they have like you know some base brands as well as some you know mid brands there that you know you can get some half decent stuff from and definitely Globe West.

Speaker 2 31:25

So Globe West you can get their their pieces can you buy direct I don't think so I think it's through is it Trit House?

Speaker 31:33

Yes there's a couple of different stocks RJ Living yeah I think they well they I don't know that you would know it was Globe West though. That's true. Well RJ Living but you could go you could certainly go onto the Globe West website. I think they do list the recommended retail pricing and if you can't buy direct you can always ask them where can I get it. I'd also look at Ellison Studio oh yeah of course they do really well priced yeah really well priced and we love that brand a really cool brand do really interesting things I feel like they're they're a good go-to Australian brand not necessarily Australian made but Australian brand yeah it's hard to get if you're looking for budget there's really not a lot I think Dale Jones is a really good option for that sort of mid price Australian made but after that I'm gonna struggle a little bit I will say not necessarily budget but a really great um local brand especially if you're looking for timber is tied. Yeah do you know their stuff beautiful yeah gorgeous people amazing to deal with there I think they're about to release some and may have seen some new things that haven't been released yet and there's a chair there which is really beautiful.

Speaker 2 32:38

Zuster Zusta have some great dining chairs as well and coming in under that $1,000.

Speaker 32:45

Not all of their dining chairs are made most of their stuff is made in Australia but a lot of their dining chairs I think the ones that you're talking about they import those. Yep yep um but yeah no they're a great brand too yeah beautiful stuff.

Speaker 2 32:58

So good well there you go see we came up with some great other recommendations as well just as a cuff and um thank you for listening and we will see you in a couple of weeks with some fresh good stuff.

Speaker 33:11

And

Live Show Questions And Sign-Off

Speaker 33:12

also we'd love you to oh just a reminder that we are I think we mentioned this last time we are going to be doing a um a live podcast in July July the 17th thank you we will be at the Melbourne Convention Center. And what we really want to do is we want to answer your questions. So we want you to send us just send us a DM on whatever platform about a question you want answered and you can say you want to be anonymous or we can mention who you are whatever you like. We want some like cool questions that everyone's like you know what is it that like even if it was like oh well how where do I go for the best dining chair I don't know. Yeah how do I select it? Any of those sort of questions what do you guys have for dinner most nights I don't know bring it on bring it on what is for dinner Brie I'm getting a bit hungry. Oh pizza yeah of course pizza and wine I I it's the only night there I feel like once I clock off because it's Saturday tomorrow nobody really desperately needs anything from me so it's literally the only night I fully don't think about work. Oh my gosh I hope that is going to be the case.

Speaker 2 34:17

I hope so too wish me luck. Yes all right see you guys in a few weeks later thanks Bray bye we've got the utmost respect for the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. They're the OG custodians of this unceded land and its waters where we set up shop, create and call home and come to you from this podcast today. A big shout out to all of the amazing elders who have walked before us, those leading the way in the present and the emerging leaders who will carry the torch into the future. We're just lucky to be on this journey together.