Devro Curved Back Armchair

Devro's top rail turns in a broad horseshoe sweep that wraps the back and runs forward at both ends to finish in blunt, chamfered arm tips. Immediately beneath it, and separate from it, a second curved back rail runs across; its two ends taper and rest against the inner face of the ring, leaving a narrow slit between them. The crescent between the two curves is divided into three openings by a pair of slim, round section vertical spindles. At each shoulder the crest and the lower back rail draw close together and leave a fine, elongated triangular gap between them, a detail repeated on both sides.

In the upholstered version that crescent is closed by a padded panel seated inside the rail, with the wooden edge left exposed all round. The two vertical seams across the panel fall exactly on the line of the two spindles in the frame. There is no infill between arm and seat; the opening is left clear, so the chair embraces without ever looking heavy.

The legs are round in section and narrow from their thickest point just under the seat down to the foot on a slightly organic curve rather than a straight cone. There is no flute, collar or change of section anywhere on them. Front and rear legs are not matched: the rear pair start beneath the lower back rail, pass through the seat frame and run unbroken to the floor, making them longer than the front pair, which stop under the arm tip. There is no stretcher between the legs at any level; the volume below the seat frame is open throughout. In the bare frame photograph no seat panel is fitted. Four perimeter rails close into a rectangular frame over the legs, and inside it, in the same plane, two intermediate battens running front to back divide the opening into three, so the floor shows only through those three gaps. Those two battens carry the seat panel; they do not tie the legs together. The front apron is noticeably deeper than the other three rails and its lower edge is cut in a bow; that is a real design difference, not perspective. The photographs show the bare, unfinished and unupholstered frame alongside the walnut stained version with a yellow fabric upholstered back and seat.