3D chair configurator

An upholstered chair is bought by eye and by the centimetre

Customers choose a dining chair by the look of the fabric, but they return it because of a dimension: the seat is too high for the table, the armrest does not fit under the top, the fabric wears through after a year. Polish shops selling customisable chairs, such as DecoStreet and Fajne Krzesła, show photos of the model, not the chosen variant. Fajne Krzesła produces 3D visualisations by hand, through a designer, in a process that takes several days.

The demo shows the chosen variant straight away: the silhouette, the fabric with its texture and colour, the legs and the set at the table. In the sources we checked, nobody showed a chair in the context of table height. Here it is a separate step.

Chair dimensions for a table

A 75 cm high table suits a seat height of 45–48 cm (mediaexpert.pl). IKEA splits seat height by body height: 40–42 cm for people under 160 cm, 42–45 cm for 160–175 cm and 45–48 cm above 175 cm. There should be 25–30 cm between the seat and the underside of the top.

In the demo the seat height is set with a slider in the 45–48 cm range in 1 cm steps. Dimension lines show the measurement on the model, and the note under the price works out how much is left to the top of a 75 cm table and reminds the customer of the 25–30 cm to the underside of the top. For comparison, Casarista's catalogue chairs have a 49 cm seat, an overall height of 80–92 cm and a standard load capacity of 120 kg. A whole chair is usually about 80–96 cm high: IKEA gives an example of 80 cm, and products on offer in Poland are 95–96 cm.

Four silhouettes

Manufacturers build their range from one shell and many variants. HAY About A Chair combines a shell with or without armrests, different bases and upholstery of the seat only, the front or the whole chair. The Vitra Eames Plastic Chair swaps shells on wooden, wire and cross bases. In Poland armrests are usually a separate model, not an option (DecoStreet, Fajne Krzesła). The demo has four silhouettes:

• tub chair with armrests: a rounded shell in which the backrest flows into the armrests;
• classic, straight backrest: a rectangular seat and a high backrest, fully upholstered, the most common type in Poland;
• channel-tufted: a backrest with vertical stitched channels, which looks good in velvet;
• wooden frame: visible legs and a backrest rail in wood, with an upholstered seat.

A chair with armrests only goes under the table if the armrest is lower than the underside of the top. For the tub silhouette the configurator gives the approximate armrest height and reminds the customer to check it against the apron of the specific table.

Fabrics and the Martindale rub test

A fabric's abrasion resistance is given in Martindale cycles. The test method is EN ISO 12947, which does not set a pass/fail threshold itself. The thresholds are an industry convention (kothea.com, April 2026):

Upholstery fabrics in Poland usually have 50,000–100,000 cycles. Fargotex Vocal (knitted velvet, 400 g/m²) has 70,000 cycles and a pilling rating of 4/5. BRW gives 100,000 cycles for its Moghan velvet and over 60,000 for its Lupine chenille. Bouclé is offered at anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 cycles (Westwing), and faux leather at over 200,000 in the Kothea overview. Pilling and light fastness are tested separately, so a high Martindale figure does not guarantee that a fabric will not pill.

The demo has six fabrics, each with its own texture and seven colours: from ecru and sage to bottle green, navy, cognac, anthracite and terracotta. Velvet has a sheen that depends on the viewing angle, bouclé has loops, faux leather is smooth. The upholstery card gives the fabric's cycle count with its source, or says plainly that it needs confirming with the manufacturer, and reminds the customer how much is enough at home.

Velvet, bouclé or faux leather

Velvet has a sheen that depends on the direction of the pile. Bouclé has a looped structure, and its durability depends on the specific fabric: over 80,000 cycles is already public-building level. Faux leather is cheaper than real leather and easy to clean, but breathes less well. Halmar claims +38% resistance to sun and liquids for its faux leather, but that is manufacturer data. Real leather is more expensive and comes in fewer colours.

Families with children and pets ask for easy-clean fabrics. The market has Aquaclean (PFC-free, OEKO-TEX Class 1) and Fargotex Magic Home (water-repellent, pet-friendly), according to research of 21 October 2026. The customer still wants to touch the material: shops in Poland and Germany send samples or lend out a swatch book (DecoStreet, Fajne Krzesła, Casarista). The configurator narrows the choice, and the sample confirms it.

Fabric groups, or how manufacturers calculate the price

Upholstered chairs are priced in fabric groups. The same model costs more in a more expensive group. The Hugo chair (Claudie Design) costs from PLN 1,568 in group I to PLN 1,895 in group VI, i.e. 21% more (superkrzesla.pl):

The demo uses the same scale. The fabrics are assigned to groups I–VI: weave, velvet, chenille, easy-clean velvet, bouclé and faux leather. The name of each fabric starts with its group, and the price recalculates straight away. The assignment of fabrics to groups is an example, because every manufacturer has its own groups. For sofas there can be fewer or more groups: Góreccy have 3, Nobonobo 8 (research of 21 October 2026).

Legs and frame

Legs come in five finishes: natural oak, walnut-stained beech, black wood, matt black metal and brushed gold metal. A chair with a wooden frame has wooden legs. If the customer picks metal for this silhouette, the configurator switches to wood and says why.

Metal dominates the Polish market: in Fajne Krzesła's filters there are 117 products with metal legs, 80 with beech and 7 with other wood. DecoStreet offers leg colours white, lacquered beech, walnut, cherry, wenge and silver, in a straight or bent shape. A non-standard leg colour can be expensive: for Hugo, metal in a colour outside the range costs +PLN 750, and any RAL colour +PLN 1,000 with a minimum of 10 pieces, extending the lead time from 6 to 10–12 weeks (superkrzesla.pl).

Standards for domestic chairs

Domestic chairs are tested to EN 12520:2024, which replaced the 2015 version and has applied since 15 November 2024. The standard covers safety, strength and durability, and the tests assume a user of up to 110 kg. It does not cover the durability of the upholstery, flammability or ergonomics. Stability is covered by EN 1022, which it references (SGS SafeGuards 170/24). Chairs for restaurants and offices fall under EN 16139.

The configurator does not replace testing. A manufacturer that has test reports can add them to the model card, next to the fabric data.

Chair and table in one scene

The “Set and table” step places the chair at a mock-up table 75 cm high. The “Push in / pull out” button slides the chair under the top, so the customer sees the clearance above the seat. A set has 1, 2, 4 or 6 pieces, and the copies stand around the top in the same fabric and with the same legs.

The table configurator uses the same chair geometry, so a dining furniture manufacturer can show the table and chairs in one style. Table du Sud in the Netherlands combines a table and chairs in one configurator, but there the chair is not the main focus.

How the demo calculates the price

The unit price is the silhouette's price in group I, multiplied by the fabric group multiplier, plus the leg surcharge. The set is the unit price times the number of chairs. This is how the market prices chairs: the model in a fabric group, a fixed surcharge for the leg colour, armrests as a separate model with a different base price, tufting as a variant and a lead time that depends on the fabric and colour. The “How is it priced?” button shows the items: the chair in group I, the fabric surcharge with the group percentage and the leg surcharge. The summary gives the price per piece and for the set. The silhouette prices in the demo are samples within the market range:

Lead times for made-to-order chairs are 14–21 days or 4–6 weeks, depending on the model (Fajne Krzesła). In a live deployment the configurator calculates from the manufacturer's price list: its models, fabric groups and leg surcharges.

What the manufacturer gets

The summary collects the model, the seat height, the fabric with its group and colour, the legs and the set with the price per piece. The sales rep gets a specific variant instead of a question about “a chair in green velvet”. In a live deployment the models, fabrics, price groups and leg colours come from the manufacturer's range.

A dining furniture manufacturer can show the set together with the table in the 3D table configurator, and fitted furniture in the 3D made-to-measure wardrobe configurator. Lamps above the table are shown in the 3D lamp configurator. You can work out an indicative implementation cost in the configurator cost estimator.