Good seating does two things at once: it disappears when you are using it and it holds the room together when you are not. The new generation of Scandinavian workshops understands this balance better than anyone.

We visited three studios this spring. In each one the conversation came back to the same idea: a chair should be light enough to move with one hand and sturdy enough to pass on. Steam-bent backs, solid seats and joinery you can see are the shared vocabulary.

If you are furnishing a dining room, start with the chairs rather than the table. Sit in them for twenty minutes, not two. The table can follow.