Description
An Upholstered Dining Chair with a Sculptural Oak Frame
The Bolia Bowie Dining Chair combines the comfort of a fully upholstered dining armchair with a flowing solid-oak structure. Rather than hiding the frame beneath upholstery, Bowie allows the timber to remain clearly visible as it rises from the legs into the armrests and wraps around the backrest.
Part of the wider Bolia collection at RB12, Bowie brings the Danish brand’s Scandinavian material language into a more generous dining chair designed for longer meals, conversation and spaces where seating comfort is a priority.
The combination of solid oak, moulded foam and tailored upholstery gives Bowie more presence than a lightweight timber dining chair while keeping the frame visually open around the seat.
Designed by Skrivo
Bowie was designed by Italian design studio Skrivo. The wider Bowie family draws on mid-century Scandinavian design while combining modern production with more traditional woodworking techniques.
The dining chair carries that same design language into a more upright format, retaining the softly curved oak structure and visually light seat expression established by the wider Bowie collection.
Solid Oak from Leg to Armrest and Backrest
The solid-oak frame is the defining architectural feature of Bowie. Rather than treating the legs, arms and back as separate visual elements, the timber flows continuously around the upholstered centre of the chair.
Bolia specifies FSC™-certified solid oak for the frame, giving the chair a natural timber structure that remains visible from the front, sides and rear.
RB12 currently offers three oak expressions:
- Oiled Oak
- Dark Oiled Oak
- White-Pigmented Oiled Oak
Designed for Long Dinners
Bowie is designed around a fully moulded foam seat rather than a thin dining-chair pad. This creates a softer and more supportive seating experience intended for occasions when people remain around the table for longer periods.
The arms provide additional support, while the upholstered back gives Bowie more of the enveloping character normally associated with a lounge chair.
That makes the chair particularly relevant for dining rooms used as social spaces rather than simply somewhere to sit briefly for meals.
Bowie Dining Chair Dimensions
The Bowie Dining Chair measures 62 cm wide × 68.5 cm deep × 85 cm high. The dimensions give it noticeably more presence than a compact armless dining chair, so table width and spacing between chairs should be considered when planning a complete set.
- Width: 62 cm
- Depth: 68.5 cm
- Height: 85 cm
- Seat depth: 47.5 cm
- Seat height: 47.5 cm
- Back height: 36.5 cm
- Armrest height: 62.5 cm
- Net weight: approximately 9 kg
- Maximum weight capacity: 110 kg
If Bowie is being used with an existing dining table, the 62.5 cm armrest height is particularly worth checking against the underside of the tabletop or apron to understand how closely the chair can tuck underneath.
A Dining Chair with Arms
Bowie is effectively a dining armchair rather than a conventional side chair. That makes it particularly useful when comfort is prioritised over fitting the maximum number of seats around a table.
Around a larger dining table, a complete set of Bowie chairs creates a particularly generous and considered setting. Alternatively, Bowie can be used at the two ends of a rectangular table with narrower armless dining chairs along the sides.
This mixed approach can provide the comfort and visual presence of Bowie without requiring every place setting to occupy the full 62 cm chair width.
Changeable Upholstery Covers
Bowie is designed with a changeable upholstery cover. This allows the fabric to be renewed or replaced over time rather than permanently fixing one upholstery choice to the chair for its entire life.
Bolia offers the design across a wider fabric library, while RB12 currently provides a curated selection including Baize, Linea, London, Memory and Linor options.
This flexibility allows the chair to change considerably in character: smoother neutral fabrics emphasise the flowing oak frame, while more tactile or textured upholstery gives the seat a softer and more relaxed expression.
Three Oak Finishes, Multiple Fabric Directions
Because both the frame and upholstery remain visually prominent, the relationship between fabric and timber is an important part of specifying Bowie.
White-pigmented oak paired with a pale textile creates the lightest Scandinavian expression. Natural oiled oak introduces greater warmth, while dark-oiled oak gives the sculptural outline more contrast and can work particularly well with deeper or warmer upholstery colours.
There is no requirement for the timber and upholstery to match tonally; contrast can make the flowing solid-oak frame even more visible.
For Dining Rooms, Meeting Rooms and Workspaces
Although Bowie is primarily a dining chair, its combination of arms, supportive upholstery and a relatively upright seating position also makes it suitable for meeting rooms and more design-led workspaces.
The chair is particularly relevant where people may remain seated for longer conversations and where the furniture needs to look considered from several directions rather than simply being pushed tightly beneath a table.
Made in Europe
Bolia lists the Bowie Dining Chair as made in Poland. The current product specification identifies solid European oak within the frame and provides component-level transparency for the timber and upholstery used in the chair.
The chair is delivered unassembled and carries Bolia’s 12-year warranty.
Complete the Bolia Bowie Collection
The dining chair extends the material and structural language of the wider Bowie seating family.
For a lower and more relaxed interpretation, the Bolia Bowie Armchair uses the same softly curved solid-oak frame and upholstered centre in lounge-chair proportions.
Bolia also produces a Bowie two-seat sofa using the same flowing oak frame, allowing the design language to continue from dining seating into the living room.
Bowie or Visti?
For another luxurious upholstered Bolia dining chair, compare Bowie with the Bolia Visti Dining Chair.
Visti takes stronger inspiration from Scandinavian mid-century seating and creates a more visibly floating relationship between the solid-oak frame and upholstered centre.
Bowie is the stronger choice when you want a fuller dining armchair with continuous timber arms and a more enveloping upholstered form, while Visti offers a slightly lighter and more open expression.
Bowie or Merge?
For greater freedom over how much upholstery you introduce around the dining table, consider the Bolia Merge Upholstered Dining Chair.
Merge can be configured with different combinations of timber and upholstery, allowing it to move from a cleaner wooden expression to a softer upholstered chair.
Choose Bowie when maximum upholstered comfort, arm support and the sculptural continuous-oak frame are the priority. Choose Merge when configurability and a lighter dining-chair format are more important.
Bowie or Mielo?
The Bolia Mielo Dining Chair provides another softer alternative within the RB12 Bolia dining collection.
Mielo places greater emphasis on an organic upholstered silhouette, while Bowie makes the surrounding oak structure a much more important part of the visual composition.
If visible timber craftsmanship is central to the dining scheme, Bowie is likely to be the stronger fit. If the priority is a softer, more fully upholstered expression, Mielo offers a useful alternative.
Explore Bolia Dining Chairs at RB12
Bolia forms one of the largest Scandinavian dining-chair collections at RB12, ranging from sculptural solid-oak chairs to fully upholstered seating designed for longer meals and more relaxed dining spaces.
Alongside Bowie, the collection includes designs such as Visti, Merge, Mielo and Kite, allowing dining seating to be chosen around comfort, timber expression, upholstery and the amount of visual weight required around the table.
Explore Designer Dining Chairs at RB12
Browse RB12’s wider collection of designer dining chairs to compare Bowie with Scandinavian, Italian and contemporary dining chairs in solid wood, upholstery, leather and mixed materials.
Features
- Designed by Skrivo
- Part of the wider Bolia Bowie seating family
- FSC™-certified solid-oak frame
- Fully moulded upholstered foam seat
- Changeable upholstery cover
- Integrated solid-oak armrests
- Width: 62 cm
- Depth: 68.5 cm
- Height: 85 cm
- Seat depth: 47.5 cm
- Seat height: 47.5 cm
- Back height: 36.5 cm
- Armrest height: 62.5 cm
- Net weight: approximately 9 kg
- Maximum weight capacity: 110 kg
- Oiled Oak, Dark Oiled Oak and White-Pigmented Oiled Oak options through RB12
- Made in Poland
- Delivered unassembled
- 12-year Bolia warranty
Highlights
- Generous upholstered dining-armchair proportions designed for longer periods of sitting
- Continuous solid-oak frame creates a sculptural profile from every angle
- Armrests provide greater support than a conventional armless dining chair
- Changeable upholstery allows the chair’s appearance to be refreshed over time
- Three oak finishes can be combined with a wide range of fabric directions
- Coordinates directly with the Bowie Armchair and wider Bowie seating family
- 12-year Bolia warranty
Care
Bowie is designed with a changeable upholstery cover. Bolia’s current collection information also describes the Bowie Dining Chair cover as washable, but the correct cleaning method depends on the exact upholstery selected.
Always follow the care instructions supplied with your chosen Bolia fabric before washing or treating the cover, rather than applying one cleaning method across every Bowie upholstery option.
