Corner, 3-seater or two smaller pieces — and which fabric?

If you searched for fabric versus leather, the honest answer is that we don't currently stock a leather sofa — the range is velvet, linen, textured weave and chenille. If leather's wipe-clean durability is the priority, a tight, low-pile weave such as linen or boucle is the closest practical alternative in fabric, and the section below covers why.

The other decision — corner sofa, a single 3-seater, or a 3-seater plus an armchair — is about the room and the household as much as the fabric, and it's covered second.

Rule one. Velvet looks the most expensive and shows the most

Velvet's pile catches light in a way flat fabric doesn't, which is most of why it reads as the premium option. That same pile is what shows every mark: a cat's claws snag it permanently in a way a tighter weave shrugs off, and pressure marks from sitting in the same spot can flatten the nap enough to leave a visible patch.

It suits a room that gets careful use — an adult living room, a formal sitting room — better than a household with claws or muddy paws in daily rotation.

Rule two. Linen and textured weave are the practical middle

A linen or textured-weave fabric — flatter, tighter, less reflective than velvet — hides everyday marks better and generally cleans up easier. It's the fabric equivalent of what people are usually asking for when they ask about leather: wipeable, forgiving, not precious.

It doesn't have velvet's depth of colour or its light-catching finish, so a room built around a strong, saturated colour statement usually reaches for velvet instead — this is the trade-off, not a flaw in either fabric.

Rule three. Chenille is the softest and the most forgiving to sit on

Chenille's texture comes from a looped weave rather than a cut pile, which makes it soft to the touch and resistant to flattening the way velvet can. It reads more casual than velvet or a smooth linen weave, which suits a family room better than a formal one.

Where Kaiku sells it in armchairs rather than full sofas at the moment, pair a chenille armchair with a plain linen or textured sofa rather than another velvet piece — mixing a looped texture against a cut pile usually looks more deliberate than two different naps side by side.

Rule four. Corner sofa, one 3-seater, or 3-seater plus a chair

A corner sofa seats the most people for the wall space it uses, because the return leg turns a corner of the room into seating instead of dead space. It commits that corner permanently, though — it can't be turned to face a different way if the room gets rearranged later.

A single 3-seater is the most flexible of the three: it can be moved, turned, or paired with different chairs later without the corner-shape constraint. A 3-seater plus an armchair adds a seat without the corner sofa's depth, and lets the two pieces be reupholstered or replaced independently — useful if one takes more wear than the other.

Our range, by fabric

The same four fabrics, shown against real pieces so the difference in finish is something to look at rather than just read about.

The short version

No leather in the range — velvet, linen/textured weave, fabric and chenille instead. Velvet looks the richest and shows the most wear; linen and textured weave are the practical middle; chenille is the softest and most forgiving. A corner sofa seats the most for the space; a single 3-seater stays the most flexible; a 3-seater plus a chair splits the risk across two pieces.