by For the past five years, my daily home workstation was a sub-$200 Staples office chair upholstered in bonded leather—a material made from leftover leather scraps glued to a plastic backing. Predictably, years of 8-to-10-hour workdays caused the material to flake, peel, and the front end of the seat cushion to tilt downward which let me to decide that a replacement was necessary.
Initially, I capped my budget at $300 and bought a Tempur-Pedic TP9000 Mesh Task Chair for $260. While the seat cushion was plenty supportive, the fabric upholstery felt unbearably scratchy against my skin, even through cargo pants. Realizing I couldn’t compromise on my comfort requirement, I returned it and refocused my search toward genuine leather seating, bracing myself for a much higher price tag. That pivot ultimately led me to the Pottery Barn Nash Leather Swivel Desk Chair.
How Much Did the Pottery Barn Nash Chair Cost?
As it turns out, timing is everything. When I stumbled upon the Nash chair, it was marked down from $1,299 to a jaw-dropping $599. Even though all sales were final, I immediately placed the order. I assumed the deep discount meant the line was being discontinued, but I was wrong. Just a week after my purchase, the price jumped to $769 before bouncing all the way back to its original $1,299 MSRP a few days later.
By the way, the breakdown of the costs for my order were: $599.97 + $48.21 sales tax + $79 Doorstep Delivery = $727.18 total. If you try to buy this very same chair today, in addition to paying the full $1,299 MSRP, you’ll pay more for shipping too (Doorstep Delivery is now $179).
Why I Chose the Pottery Barn Nash Chair
The primary driver behind my choice was simple: it offered genuine, top-grain leather from a trusted brand at an incredibly low price that I believed would provide better overall comfort. While there were plenty of competitive office chairs in the $600 to $700 range, almost all of them used synthetic vegan leather. Because top-grain leather significantly outlasts these man-made alternatives—most of which will suffer from the same peeling and flaking vulnerabilities as cheap bonded leather, the Nash Office Chair was also seemed to be the clear winner for long-term durability.
How Long Did it Take for Delivery?
When I initially placed my order on the Pottery Barn website, it stated the delivery window to be about 2 to 2.5 months, ughh. But, about a week later, they charged my credit card and shortly thereafter, gave me a scheduled delivery date that was a roughly a week after that. In reality, it took just 2 weeks and 2 days from order placement to delivery at my doorstep. Funny thing is, I’ve read some negative online reviews about Pottery Barn’s disappointing delivery and customer service experiences. Fortunately, that was not the case for me.
First Impressions and Setup
After the 58.4 lb box finally arrived at my doorstep, I immediately unboxed it. There was no chemical odor and all parts were packaged neatly and securely to protect against damage while in transit.
The assembly process was a pleasant surprise. The chair required just 6 hex bolts (using the included Allen wrench) to attach the base frame hardware to the underside of the seat cushion. I love that the seat cushion, seat back and chrome plated metal arm rests were preassembled.
The rest of the assembly process included attaching the caster wheels to the bottom of the 5-leg base. Next, you drop the gas cylinder (that extends from the 5-leg base to the underside of the seat) into the leg base and place the chair on top of the gas cylinder.
At this point you can sit on the assembled chair which drives the gas cylinder snugly into the 5-leg base and the underside of the chair. This entire assembly process took me about 15 minutes.
I also find the Nash chair to be subtly attractive.
Ergonomics
The Pottery Barn Nash leather upholstered seat cushion offers a drastically different experience than my old sagging Staples office chair. While the old bonded leather wrapped cushion lacked support and tilted downward at the front, the Nash features high-density polyester foam and fiber padding seat cushion sits on top of a matching leather upholstered base seemed to offer better support.
Comfort
The Pottery Barn Nash leather has built-in adjustability functions smoothly via a standard lever beneath the seat, allowing for easy height adjustments ranging from 35.5 to 38 inches overall. Transitioning from a broken chair that forced me into a permanent downward forward slope to this smooth-rolling, highly stable swivel mechanism was nice. But of course, swapping out the scratchy textile upholstered seating of the Tempur-Pedic chair for the Nash chair’s aniline-dyed top-grain leather meant I could finally work comfortably in shorts or thin clothing without any skin irritation.
That said, the seat cushion is quite thin (about 1.5 inches in height) and hasn’t been as comfortable as I had hoped in that when I sit in it for hours at a time, my butt gets a little sore. Maybe I need more time to get used to it.
The back cushions are very firm so if you prefer a plush, cushy chair to lean back into, this one might not be for you.
Features
The Nash chair rotates (360-degree swivel), tilts, and rolls easily on casters with a maximum weight capacity of 300 lbs.
Safety
Because bonded leather and vegan leather are highly processed, they actually contain a higher concentration of synthetic chemicals than genuine top-grain leather. Some of these chemicals are known to cause cancer.
Top-Grain Leather Quality
The leather appears to be of high quality, although the leather of the seat cushion was a little smoother and more supple than the leather of the seat back cushions.
Color
The Pottery Barn Nash Leather Swivel Desk Chair only comes in one color option: Caramel. However, the color shown on the website does not match the chair I received. In reality, the leather is a richer, darker caramel shade. I’ve included images below so you can see the difference for yourself. Fortunately, I prefer this color and think it looks great.
The Verdict
Even though I managed to grab the Pottery Barn Nash leather desk chair on sale for just $599, I would never pay the full $1,299 plus another $179 for delivery.
If I could do it all over again, I’d pass on this leather office chair and look for one with a thicker seat cushion.
