Choosing your GUBI, by the metre

A GUBI chair is rarely bought off the shelf. Most are made to order, and the single biggest decision is the cover — a choice GUBI runs through some of Europe's best mills.

That makes the fabric less a finish than a design decision. The same Beetle or Pacha can read as quiet or theatrical, domestic or contract-tough, depending entirely on the cloth it wears.

A palette by the metre

The range is enormous: structured weaves and basics, 1970s-look chenille, new-look velvet, tactile bouclé, full-grain leather from Sørensen, vinyl and outdoor-grade canvas. Names like Kvadrat, Dedar and Maharam recur for a reason — they last.

An art of contrasts — historical form, contemporary cloth.

Those mills matter as much as the chair. A textile's rub count, its fade resistance, the way it takes a curve — these decide whether a piece looks considered in five years or merely used.

Choose by use, not just colour

The useful rule for an Australian room is to choose by use, not just colour. Contract-grade structured weaves and leathers belong in hospitality and high-traffic rooms; velvet and bouclé are for the piece meant to be the hero of a quiet room.

Light matters too. Australian sun is unforgiving on textiles, so a fabric's fade rating is not a technicality but the difference between a cover that holds its colour and one that greys by a window.

What to read on the label

Three numbers do most of the work. The Martindale rub count tells you how the cloth will wear; the lightfastness rating tells you how it will survive a north-facing window; the composition tells you how it will age — wool recovers, linen creases and softens, leather patinates. Read those three before the colour, and the colour will still be right in ten years.

It is the part of a made-to-order piece that rewards a little patience: get the cloth right and the chair becomes, unmistakably, yours.