Choosing White Without Regretting It in a Year

A white chair is the same chair in a harder colour. Every mark a dark one hides, from a scuff on the side bolster to dye off a pair of jeans or the grey line where a forearm rests, reads from across the room on white. The model sets the ergonomics; the colour decides how it looks after eighteen months.

Two ageing processes matter more than the rest. Coated polyurethane yellows under ultraviolet light and eventually delaminates through hydrolysis, which humid air speeds up noticeably. Woven fabric holds its colour far better but absorbs whatever is spilled on it. Placing the chair out of direct afternoon sun removes most of the first problem before it starts.