This is our glossary of furniture terms that are frequently used in the contract furniture industry. New terms often appear with new trends or innovative production methods and will be added to the list when we encounter them.
Aris: Sharp edge or corner
Basket-weave: Criss-cross woven pattern
Balloon back: Circular-backed seat
Bariatric: Seat for the weighty
Bentwood:Wood steam-softened then bent
Bespoke:Tailor-made
Button back:Upholstery studded for a ‘rolling hill’ effect
Chamfer: A symmetrical sloping surface at an edge or corner
Club chair: Short-backed, armed and upholstered comfortable chair
CMHR foam: Fire-shunning foam (Combustion Modified High Resilient)
COL: Customer’s Own Leather
COM: Customer’s Own Material
Contract furniture: Designed and manufactured for commercial installation
Corner blocks: Small wood blocks glued in place strengthening a chair seat
Cantilever: L or Z-shaped leg championed by Marcel Breuer
Carriage: Transportation from to supplier
Case goods: Wooden furniture designed for storage, such as cupboards, chests of drawers, etc.
Casters: Wheels under chair legs
Crib 5/7: Levels of flammability testing for commercial furniture
Crumb gap: The gap below a back rest
Dowel: Round wood pin joining wooden pieces
Drop-edge: Deeper edge to a table top
Edge profile: Table edge’s size, angle, finish
Factory gate price: Price of product excluding logistical costs
Fire backing: Fire-resistant coating applied to back of fabric
FOB ‘Free On Board’: Factory price inc transport from the factory to a nearby port or railway station
Frame: Basic structure of furniture
Gas lift: Chair height-adjustment mechanism
Glide: Protective leg sole
Herringbone: Chequered fabric style
Inox: Italian for stainless steel
In the raw: Unfinished wooden state of furniture
KD: ‘Knock Down’ - flat-packed furniture
Lacquer: A synthetic, durable fast finish which protects wood
Laminate: Laminate Layed sheet material, typically plywood
Martindale rub test: Measure of a fabric’s durability
MDF: Medium-Density Fibreboard, a ubiquitous building product. ‘Green’ MDF is weather-resistant
Nap: A fabric with a secondary weave or ‘pile’, sticking out – often appears as a different hue from a different direction
Ogee: A widely-used moulding profile
Ottoman: Upholstered low stool or footrest
Piping: Jutting out seam in furniture upholstery
Plastic laminate: Sheet material with a man-made polymer core (aka solid ore laminate)
Plywood: Series of alternating thin layers of wood glued together
Polyethylene: Most common plastic, used in water bottles etc and some chairs
Polycarbonate: Tough, transparent, brittler plastic
Poser table: High table, for use when standing or with stools
Powder coat: Paint coating applied as dry powder
Quarter sawn: Timber planks cut from a quartered trunk
Repeat Pattern: A pattern recurrent throughout a fabric design
Saddle stitch: Distinctive ‘dashed’ sewing stitch, used particularly with leather
Shell: Combined seat and back of chair as one feature
Show wood: Wood used as a design feature on an otherwise upholstered chair
Solid core laminate: Sheet material with a man-made polymer core (aka plastic laminate)
Spider: Top of a table base, an X piece, connecting table bases to the underside of table tops
Spindle: A thin piece of wood, typically turned, stretching between a seat and top rail of a chair
Splat: Central vertical element of a chair’s back
Studding rod: A threaded metal rod connecting the top and bottom of a table base, running down the middle of the column
Stretcher: Strengthening rail running perpendicular to a chair’s legs
Swatch: A sample of upholstery fabric
Veneer: A thin slice of decorative wood glued to an inferior wood core
Waterfall front: Ergonomic seating wrap-over front of chair seat
Webbing: Strips of elastic or woven fabric used to provide support for upholstered chair backs and seats
Wing back: High-back chair with protrusions extending above the arms
Wood stain: Protective wood finish that is absorbed into surface pores often to change the appearance of the wood