Eye-Catching Chairs Offer Style & Comfort

Cowhide majesty The chair is handmade by a Canadian designer who takes traditional western comfort toward a bold new direction of style. Luxurious, hand-worked cowhide offers rich texture, accented with hardwood craftsmanship. Available at the Salsa Trading Company.

They may WOW you with chic simplicity or beckon your eyes with overstuffed luxury. Indeed, the most necessary of all furniture is enjoying a renaissance as chair designers push the boundaries of furniture design with new materials and manufacturing processes.

In the beginning, chairs were made of wood. The nature of wood and wood-working techniques dictated the basic shape of chairs. Now anything goes and chair shoppers have a diverse selection of designs to choose from. The chair could come from a cutting-edge studio in Milan or a Canadian designer pushing tradition with dramatic uses of cowhide, but the common element of all new chair design is eye-appeal.

“When buying a chair people consider three factors,” said Bruce Needleman of Sonoma’s Salsa Trading Company. “First is the look, then comes comfort and size. Buyers may compromise on the latter two, but they have to like the style of the chair.”

So, if you’re shopping for a chair, the new designs may catch your eye but experts say the best chairs are those designed for back support and body comfort. In other words, let your eyes do the shopping, but before you buy, consult the bottom line.