Knowledge Hub

Start with the room, not the swatch. Sunlight, pets, children and how often the piece is actually used narrow the field faster than color does.

Durability is usually quoted as a double-rub count from an abrasion test. Treat it as a guide rather than a guarantee: weave, fiber and finish all shape how a fabric ages, and a high count on a loose weave is not the same promise as a high count on a tight one.

Performance fabrics are engineered for cleanability, usually a solution-dyed or treated fiber that resists staining and fading and takes a wipe without leaving a mark.

They are the right call for high-traffic rooms, households with kids or pets, and anywhere the sun is relentless. The hand has improved enormously, and the gap between a performance weave and a traditional one is far smaller than it used to be.

Leather is a natural material and reads like one. Healed scars, insect marks, brands and variation across a hide are part of the material rather than flaws in the cover, and they show most in the least-corrected leathers.

Aniline and semi-aniline leathers develop a patina. They soften, darken a little and take on the marks of use. Heavily pigmented leathers stay closer to how they arrived. The choice is really about whether you want the piece to change.

COM means you supply the fabric and we apply it. It is the route to a specific mill, a discontinued pattern, or a designer's own line.

Each product page lists the yardage a style requires, so you can order the right amount. Confirm yardage and where to send the material with your ICON contact before it ships.

Eight-way hand-tied coils are knotted to one another and to the frame in eight directions. It is the most labor-intensive system, and it gives a deep, gradual sit that stays even across the seat.

Sinuous springs are S-shaped steel wires stretched front to back and clipped to the frame. Well executed, they are quiet, consistent and long-lived, and they allow a slimmer seat profile than coils.

Webbing, elastic or jute bands woven across the frame, is the lightest system. It suits low-profile and platform designs, and its life depends heavily on the quality of the bands.

None of the three is automatically better than the others. The right system depends on the seat profile and the sit a design is after, and execution matters more than the label.

A hardwood frame, kiln-dried so the moisture is out before the wood is cut, is the standard that lasts. Green or under-dried lumber shrinks in place and joints loosen with it.

Joinery does the real work: corner blocks, double dowels, glue and screws at the stress points rather than staples alone. A frame you can lift by one corner without any twist is the practical test.

Legs set the visual weight of a piece. A tall tapered leg lifts it, a short block leg grounds it, and the finish either ties into the room's wood tones or deliberately contrasts with them.