The RHEA Signature Rocking Chair

A striped velvet rocking chair with washable zipped covers

Striped velvet has a direction, and it shows: the pile catches light in raised parallel bands that shift as you move past the chair, deep from one angle and pale from another. The cushions are thick, squared at the edges, and stacked in bands up the back. Behind that, the detail that changes everything is a zip along the seams. This rocking chair is built to come apart and go back together.

Sitting down happens in two stages. The outer layer gives first, quickly and softly, then the denser foam beneath takes the weight and stops. That is what a double-layer 45D build with a wadding top does, and it is why the seat does not bottom out at the front edge. The back moves too, through five positions, though that is the least of what this chair is doing. Below, the runners carry a long, even arc.

Two footprints matter, and they sit close together. Upright, the chair takes the floor its runners cover, front to back. Opened out, the top of the back travels rearwards and the arc adds to it, so the wall behind becomes the limit rather than the seat. Nothing extends at the front. On carpet the movement quietens; on boards it carries.

Striped velvet, zips and what comes off a removable-cover rocker

The stripe is woven in rather than printed on: bands of cut pile alternate with a flatter ground, which is what gives the surface its depth and the shift in tone that follows the light. It breathes, so a long sit does not end in the damp patch a sealed fabric leaves behind. The important part comes afterwards. The covers unzip and go in the machine, which makes a mark a wash rather than a repair.

The two tones show different things. On ivory everything registers — the ring from a mug, the print of a hand, the shadow where a body sits — and all of it goes back to the start once the covers come off. On black the marks disappear and the light does the work instead, catching the raised stripes and reading the pile as texture. Neither is the safer choice, because both are recoverable.

Two comparisons place it quickly: the chairs judged on their design, where the outline carries the piece, and the seats that sit on runners, which share the movement and little else.

A cover that comes off sets a velvet rocker apart

On a fixed-cover chair, the first spill is permanent in the sense that it joins the history of the object. Every clean after that is a compromise between lifting the mark and disturbing the pile around it. Here the cover leaves the frame, and what goes back on is the fabric as it was. The frame beneath is rated to 150 kg, and it stays put while the surface changes.

That suits the rooms where chairs actually live: the one where meals happen, the one a child crosses with something in their hands, the corner used for feeds at night. A fixed-cover chair asks to be protected. This one asks to be used, and then washed.

The velvet is what gets noticed. The zip is what keeps it looking that way.

On removable covers

Two questions about covers that come off, rather than about the upkeep that happens between washes.

Are sofa covers machine washable?

Most removable covers are, and it is the care label that decides rather than the name of the fabric. What matters more than the machine is the drying: heat is where covers shrink, so air drying and reshaping while still damp is the standard advice, alongside a cool wash and no bleach.

How do you wash sofa covers without shrinking?

Keep the heat out of it. Cool water, a gentle cycle, and no tumble dryer, since the drum is where most shrinkage happens. Turning covers inside out protects the surface, and putting them back on while still slightly damp lets them take the shape of the foam as they finish drying.

Type: Reclining Rocking Chair
Upholstery: Striped Velvet Fabric
Padding: Double-Layer 45D Foam with Silky Wadding
Reclining Positions: 5 Adjustable Positions
Removable Cover: Yes, Machine-Washable Zipped Covers
Available Colours: Ivory, Black
Maximum Load Capacity: 150 kg
Assembly: Simple and Quick

• Free delivery anywhere in the UK
• Dispatched within 24 to 48 hours, delivered in 2 to 5 days
• 14 days to change your mind
• Guarantee against defects or damage on receipt
• Customer service available 7 days a week