Deauville Leather Balloon Back Bar Stool | Classical French Cabriole Leg Counter Stool with Foot Rail - EKAR FURNITURE
Bar stools are usually built for a kitchen and rarely for a room, and the Deauville Leather Balloon Back Bar Stool by EKAR FURNITURE is designed the other way around. It is a classical French counter stool, a slim upright seat raised to bar height on a wooden frame finished in a deep, warm polished brown, with an upholstered back and seat in dark leather. Nothing about it is modern or industrial, since the shape comes straight from the balloon-backed side chair, only lifted to sit properly at a raised surface. It is the kind of stool that belongs in front of a marble-topped drinks cabinet or along a stone island in a room where the rest of the furniture is real furniture. We build it as bespoke custom furniture in our Foshan furniture factory, at the height and in the materials your project needs.
The back is what gives the stool its character. Its frame is shaped into a soft balloon outline, broad at the shoulders, drawing in at the waist, and rounded at the crest, with the top rail gently arched so the frame sits comfortably behind the shoulders rather than pressing into the neck. Set inside that frame is an upholstered pad, faced in dark leather and shaped to the outline, so the back supports the small of the back and the shoulder blades without the bulk of a fully upholstered panel. Keeping the back slim matters at a bar, since a stool pushed up to a counter has only a narrow band of space between the user and the surface, and a thick upholstered shell would push the body away from the ledge. The frame members are joined at shaped shoulders, sanded through, and polished to a warm brown that deepens the tone of the grain, and the wood is finished so it takes the oils from hands without marking dull.
The seat is built for sitting on rather than perching on. It is shaped as a soft saddle, wider across the back and gently narrower forward, padded over a solid core so the cushion keeps its form, and faced in leather with the front edge rolled downward so it does not cut into the backs of the thighs during longer sitting. The height is set to the surface it is meant for, and we build to counter height or bar height to match your worktop, keeping the correct relationship between the seat, the foot rail, and the ledge so nobody ends up sitting with legs dangling. Leather is chosen for an even grain and a low sheen, then cut and fitted by hand so the cover sits taut over the shaped core without wrinkling at the corners, and it is available in the full range of our hides and colours to match an existing chair group or a bar front.
Underneath, the structure is drawn from classical seating and built for hard service. The front legs fall in a clean cabriole curve, rounded at the knee and tapering to a small foot, and the rear legs rake backward to give a stable base behind a tall, narrow seat. The legs are joined by curved stretchers that meet around a small turned centrepiece, which both braces the frame against the sideways pressure of mounting and dismounting a high stool and gives the base a decorative focus. A foot rail is set at a comfortable resting height so the legs can be stretched and relaxed rather than held rigid for the whole sit, an important detail on a stool that people use for an entire drink or meal rather than a few minutes. Feet are capped and padded to protect stone and timber floors. As export furniture, the joints are glued, pinned, and squared, the finish is cured in-house, and each stool is packed to protect the leather and the polished frame through transit.
In the room, the Deauville works along a home bar, a kitchen island, a breakfast counter, a wine room, or a scullery, and equally in a hotel bar, private club, restaurant counter, or lounge where guests sit facing the room. Because the frame is wood and the upholstery is dark leather, it pairs naturally with marble and stone tops, marquetry drinks cabinets, brass rails and lighting, paneled walls, and both warm and pale palettes, and its slim outline means several stools can sit along a counter without crowding one another. The seat is narrow enough to tuck neatly under an overhang. There is steady demand for this kind of formal seating at raised heights in the India import furniture market, where buyers in Mumbai and New Delhi specify leather bar stools for villa kitchens, home bars, and hotel lounges designed as entertaining spaces.
