Upholstered Lounge Chair – Velvet, Linen, Boucle or Leather

Fifteen upholstery options across five material families here, covering linen, velvet, corduroy, boucle and leather, plus Heritage Plaid, which is a woven pattern rather than a solid. That range matters more on a lounge chair than on a dining chair, because a lounge chair is usually a single piece in a room and has to answer to whatever is already there rather than match a set.

These materials behave differently under a body held in one position for an hour. Linen and boucle breathe and crease; velvet's pile flattens where you sit and brushes back; leather warms to body temperature and takes a patina at the arms first. None of them is more durable in the abstract. They show use in different places, which is the real thing to choose on.

Sunflower Leather and Heritage Plaid are the statement choices for a room that needs one. Cream Linen, Oatmeal Velvet and Stone Boucle disappear into a neutral scheme instead. Either way it works as a reading chair or as the odd seat out in a living room.

• Upholstery: Linen, velvet, corduroy, boucle, leather or Heritage Plaid
• Colorways: Cream Linen, Mushroom Velvet, Ebony Velvet, Shadow Corduroy, Espresso Boucle, Stone Boucle, Cognac Velvet, Caramel Velvet, Oatmeal Velvet, Mineral Velvet, Heritage Plaid, Black Leather, Saddle Leather, Maple Brown Leather, Sunflower Leather