As we approach Valentine’s Day, I wanted to talk about one of my favorite armchairs that has quite literally sat at the heart of our story for nearly four decades: the Valentine armchair. Part of our original perennials from 1986, this French style is characterized by its compact proportions of a traditional 20th century club chair known as the fauteuil comfortable or 'the comfortable armchair'.

Unlike the rigid, upright chairs of the Victorian era, the Valentine was designed for the bon vivant. Originally made with sheep skin, it was a chair intended for long conversations, the slow sipping of cognac, and for the quiet luxury of losing oneself in a book. Today, you can find a lot of the original listings of these chairs on platforms like 1st Dibs or Parisian auction sites.  

On Image: Two tone tolerance on our signature Shadow leather 

Back in our workshop, we still use dyeing techniques that date back to the 17th century. Our Shadow Leather, which is one of our in-house signatures, is a slow, continuous hand-staining process single handedly done by our master dyeing artisan Latha who apply layers of water-based stains with fine brushes to achieve that two tone tolerance.

On Image: Our oldest craftswoman and Master Dyeing artisan, Latha working on our signature hand dyed leather in our dyeing station

Since 1986, our Valentine today has found its way into the homes of collectors, the libraries of dreamers, and the living rooms of families across India. It has been featured in the quiet corners of Coonoor bungalows and the storied halls of architectural icons.

Source: Sujata Keshavan's Coonoor Bungalow shot by Ashish Sahi for AD

I recently picked one up myself too, and it sits gracefully as my favorite chairs in my library room today. 

Explore the Valentine Single Seater—A Chesters Original since 1986.