How to choose a sheepskin lounge chair

A sheepskin lounge chair is a different kind of purchase from a sheepskin rug. A rug is reversible; if it does not work you move it to another room. A chair is a piece of furniture you will live with for a long time, and at this end of the market it should genuinely last decades.

Here is what separates a good one from an expensive one.

Whole hides, not trimmed panels

This is the first thing to look at and the easiest to check in a photograph.

Cheaper upholstery uses sheepskin cut into rectangular panels and stitched together, because panels waste less material and are easier to work with. You can see it: the wool changes direction at the seams, and there are visible joins across the seat and back.

Better chairs are upholstered in whole hides, so the wool runs unbroken across the surfaces you actually touch. It uses more material and takes more skill to fit around a curved frame, and it is the main reason the price is what it is.

When you look at a chair online, follow the wool with your eye across the seat and up the back. If it runs continuously, you are looking at whole hides.

What the frame is made of

Solid wood, not veneer over particle board. Oak and ash are the traditional choices in Danish furniture because they take stress well and can be repaired.

Check the joinery if you can see it. Visible, well cut joints are a good sign. Metal brackets holding a frame together at the corners are not.

A frame that can be repaired is a frame worth reupholstering in twenty years, which is the difference between furniture and a purchase.

Which wool for which chair

The wool type changes how the chair behaves more than how it looks.

Short wool is the practical choice for a chair in daily use. It holds its shape under weight, does not flatten in the seat, and needs very little attention. If the chair is going in a living room where people actually sit every evening, take short wool.

Long wool is deeper and softer and considerably more dramatic. It will flatten where it is sat on and needs occasional brushing to lift back up. Best in a bedroom, a reading corner, or anywhere the chair is used but not hard used.

Curly wool, including Mongolian, sits between the two. It resists matting well and has the most texture of the three. It is also the most visually assertive, so give it a quiet room.

Our chairs, and how they differ

The range is built in Denmark and the pieces are named rather than numbered, which makes them easier to talk about.

Emil is the largest lounge chair, available in short wool, long wool and Mongolian curly, with a brass base option. It is a proper armchair and it needs the space of one.

Emily is slightly smaller and more upright, in long wool, short wool and curly long wool. There is a matching dining chair, which is unusual and useful if you want continuity between rooms.

Emma Mini is the compact version, sized for a bedroom corner or a smaller apartment where an Emil would dominate.

Lina comes in Mongolian or New Zealand long wool and is the most textural chair we make.

Ethan Puffy and Skandi Round are the sculptural pieces, rounder and lower, and they work as the single statement object in a room rather than as part of a set.

Rocking chair, in oak or ash, for the obvious reason.

Most of these are made to order, so allow production time. You can see them all in sheepskin chairs.

Matching a footstool

The Emil and Emily footstools are made in the same hides as the chairs, which is worth doing at the same time rather than later. Hides are natural and dye lots shift, so a footstool ordered two years after the chair will be close but not identical.

Where to put it

A sheepskin chair wants light, because the wool only shows its depth when something is raking across it. Directly in front of a window is the exception: strong sun will fade the wool unevenly over a few years, especially on the dyed colors.

Give it space. These chairs read as objects, and pushing one into a corner against two walls wastes what you paid for.

Questions worth asking before you order

• Is it whole hide or panels?
• Is the frame solid wood, and can it be reupholstered?
• What is the lead time, and is it made to order?
• Can I get a matching footstool now?
• What does delivery involve, and will it come assembled?

We are happy to answer all of these. If you are choosing between two chairs, or you are not sure a particular one fits the room you have in mind, talk to us first. At this price it is worth ten minutes.