A famous Italian designer once said that an armchair that doesn't swivel isn't a real armchair, that it only fulfils half its function: that may be an exaggeration, but it's not entirely untrue. Firstly, because a swivel chair is a more relaxing and comfortable chair: blood needs to circulate in the legs, but also in the head, when you're immersed in a book or a conversation. Secondly, because there are often multiple focal points in a room, and only swivel armchairs allow you to always be properly oriented.

It's hardly surprising, then, that this category includes some of the most famous armchairs in the history of design: we're thinking, of course, of the seating duo by Danish architect-designer Arne Jacobsen, who designed the iconic Egg and Swan armchairs as part of an ambitious architectural project, the bouncy Pacha armchair by French designer Pierre Paulin, the strange Karuselli by Finnish designer Yrjö Kukkapuro, and the timeless Eames Lounge by American designers Charles & Ray Eames.