Guides

Glossary from A to Z.

From aniline leather to wabi-sabi: the key terms around design furniture, materials and light, briefly explained.

A

Aniline leather: Leather dyed right through, with open pores and no covering pigment layer. It feels particularly natural but is sensitive to stains and light, and develops a patina over time.

B

Bauhaus: School of design founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919. It moved to Dessau in 1925 and to Berlin in 1932, and closed in 1933. Its influence on furniture, architecture and typography is still felt today.
Bouclé: Fabric made from looped yarn whose small loops form a nubbly, soft surface. The name comes from the French “boucler” (to curl).

C

Cantilever chair: Chair without back legs whose seat flexes on a continuously bent frame. The design emerged in the 1920s together with tubular steel furniture.
Chaise longue: Reclining chair with an extended seat on which you can stretch out your legs; French for “long chair”. On corner sofas, the term also refers to the extended lounging section.
Cold-cure foam: Highly elastic polyurethane foam that adapts under load and quickly returns to its original shape. Its quality and firmness are described by density and compression hardness.
Colour rendering index (CRI): Index (Ra, also called CRI) indicating how naturally a light source renders colours; the maximum value is 100. Values of 80 and above are standard, and from 90 upwards skin, wood and plants look particularly vivid.
Compression hardness: Measure of a foam's firmness: the force needed to compress it by 40 per cent, given in kilopascals.

D

Daybed: Reclining furniture with no backrest or only a low one, used for resting during the day. Outdoors, it is often combined with a canopy, curtains or a shade sail.
Durability class: Classification of the natural resistance of wood to wood-destroying fungi under EN 350, from class 1 (very durable) to class 5 (not durable). It refers to the heartwood.

E

Edge protection: The design or finishing of an edge that protects it from chipping, such as a chamfer on ceramic or stone slabs. The term also covers trims made of wood, metal or plastic.

F

Foam density: The density of an upholstery foam in kilograms per cubic metre, abbreviated RG in German. A higher density usually indicates longer-lasting foam, but on its own it says nothing about firmness.

G

Grade A teak: Trade name for mature teak heartwood from the inner part of the trunk. Grading into A, B and C is widespread but not standardised.

H

HPL: High Pressure Laminate: a laminate of resin-impregnated papers pressed together under high pressure and heat. As an exterior-grade compact panel, HPL is light, weather-resistant and easy to care for.
Hydrostatic head: Measure of a fabric's waterproofness in millimetres: the height of a column of water whose pressure the fabric withstands before water penetrates. Tested to EN ISO 811.

I

IP rating: Code under DIN EN 60529 for a device's protection against foreign objects (first digit) and water (second digit). IP44 protects against splashing water, IP65 against water jets, IP67 against temporary immersion.
Iroko: Hardwood from tropical Africa, often sold as “African teak” but not botanically related to teak. It is durable, slightly coarser in texture and darkens over time.
Iron yarn: Waxed, exceptionally tear-resistant cotton yarn. At the Bauhaus, iron yarn fabric was used, among other things, to cover tubular steel furniture such as the B3 club chair.

J

Japandi: A blend of Japanese and Scandinavian interior styles: pared-back forms, light wood, muted natural tones and handcrafted details.

K

Kelvin: Unit of colour temperature (K). The lower the value, the warmer the light appears; light below 3300 K counts as warm white, and above 5300 K it is called daylight white.

L

Lightfastness: Resistance of a colour to fading in light, tested to ISO 105-B02. It is rated on the blue wool scale from 1 to 8, with 8 indicating the highest resistance.
Lumen: Unit of luminous flux (lm), meaning the total amount of light a light source emits. How bright a surface appears, by contrast, is described by illuminance in lux.

M

Marine-grade stainless steel (V4A): Colloquial name for stainless steels containing molybdenum, such as 1.4401 or 1.4404. They are more resistant to chlorides, which makes them the better choice for furniture near the coast or a pool.
Martindale: Test method for the abrasion resistance of fabrics under EN ISO 12947. The result is given as the number of rubs before visible wear appears.
Mid-back: Term for a medium-height backrest on sofas and armchairs that supports the back roughly up to the shoulder blades. High-back models with a headrest are taller, low-back versions lower.
Mid-century: Short for mid-century modern: design from roughly 1945 to 1970, characterised by organic forms, clean lines and new materials such as moulded plywood, fibreglass and plastic.
Modular sofa: Sofa made up of individual elements such as seat, corner and chaise modules, which can be combined freely and later rearranged or extended.

O

Olefin: Synthetic fibre made from polypropylene. It absorbs hardly any water, dries quickly and resists stains, but does not tolerate high heat.

P

Patina: Change in a surface caused by use, light and weather, such as teak turning grey or the sheen of aged leather. With many natural materials, it is seen as a welcome expression of time.
Pile crush: Shiny or lighter patches on velvet and velour where use has pressed the pile in one direction. It is part of the material's character and not a defect.
Pilling: Formation of small bobbles of fibre on fabric surfaces caused by friction. It is rated on a scale from 1 (severe pilling) to 5 (no pilling).
Porcelain stoneware: Densely fired ceramic with very low water absorption. It is resistant to frost, scratches and stains and is used for floors, terrace slabs and table tops.
Powder coating: Coating process in which coloured powder is applied electrostatically and then baked on in an oven. The coating is even and robust, and works well for aluminium and steel outdoors.

Q

Quick-dry foam: Open-cell upholstery foam with a continuous pore structure that lets rainwater drain through. Cushions made with it dry much faster than those filled with conventional foam.

R

Rattan: Natural material from the stems of tropical climbing palms that can be bent and woven. Unlike synthetic wicker, it belongs under cover, because moisture and UV light take their toll on it.
Rope: Twisted or braided cord, usually made of synthetic fibres such as polyester or polypropylene, which is wrapped around frames or woven into seats and backrests.

S

Seat depth: Distance from the front edge of the seat to the backrest. For upright sitting, around 50 to 60 centimetres is usual; lounge sofas are considerably deeper.
Seat height: Distance from the floor to the top of the seat at its front edge. On sofas it is usually between 40 and 48 centimetres.
Sintered ceramic: Very dense ceramic made from mineral raw materials, pressed under high pressure and fired at high temperatures. It is resistant to scratches, heat, UV and frost, but its edges are vulnerable to impact.
Solid wood: Natural wood that has not been veneered. Under the German standard DIN 68871, furniture may be described as solid if all parts except the back panel and drawer bottoms are made entirely of one type of wood and are not veneered.
Solution-dyed: Dyeing process for synthetic fibres in which the pigments are added to the spinning solution before the fibre is spun. The colour runs through the entire fibre, so it hardly fades.
Spring core: Upholstery core made of steel springs. With Bonnell springs, the springs are linked to one another; with pocket springs, each spring sits in its own fabric pocket and gives precisely where pressure is applied.
Synthetic wicker: Woven material made of plastic strips, usually polyethylene, that echoes the look of rattan. High-quality grades are UV-stabilised and, unlike natural rattan, can stay outdoors.

T

Teak: Tropical hardwood (Tectona grandis) with a high content of natural oils and silica. Its heartwood is among the most durable woods for outdoor use.
Thermally modified wood: Wood that has been heated to around 160 to 230 degrees Celsius in the absence of oxygen. This makes it more durable and dimensionally stable, but also more brittle.
Travertine: Limestone deposited from calcium-rich spring water, which forms its characteristic pores in the process. It is available honed, brushed or filled and is sensitive to acids.

V

Veneer: Thin sheet of wood, usually from a fraction of a millimetre to a few millimetres thick, glued onto a substrate board. It allows expressive grain patterns on dimensionally stable constructions.

W

Wabi-sabi: Japanese aesthetic ideal that values the imperfect, the transient and the simple, such as irregular ceramics or aged surfaces.