History of the Sofa

This blog discusses the history of the sofa, from its earliest known origins through to modem day designs and what the future might hold for the humble sofa.

The history of the sofa is a long one, dating back at least as far as the ancient Egyptian pharaohs and perhaps even further. There are no records from those times that indicate what the sofas were made from and it wasn't until the later Roman Empire that the sofa became a piece of home furniture that middle-class families would be able to enjoy. The typical Roman sofa resembled the chaise lounge, a style of a sofa designed more for lying on than for sitting, and it was commonplace to have a number of these sofas surrounding the dinner table so guests dining with their host could enjoy a nap after their feast. Unfortunately at that time, the lower classes in Roman society had to content themselves with sofas that were made of stone.

The collapse of the Roman Empire and subsequent Dark Age, unfortunately, led to the sofa being temporarily forgotten until the late 16th century when craftsmen in Europe again began to create what we today would recognise as a sofa. Helped along by weather-resistant housing that was appearing throughout Europe at the time, the sofa soon gained popularity in the home once again. As society grew wealthier the designs for sofas became ever more complex and intricate but not necessarily more comfortable. The wealthier homes might have sofas stuffed with horsehair but poorer families were left to stuff their sofas with hay or dried out moss if they could even afford one at all.

The 1800s saw the foundation layer for the sofa designs that are still available today. Furniture designers such as Thomas Chippendale began to circulate pattern books that held the designs of the day. By boasting both elegance and functionality, the sofas that Chippendale produced had deep seats that were also designed to be used as a temporary bed if the need ever arose. Prices continued to drop and it wasn't long before sofas began to appear in an increasing number of homes.

The industrial revolution is one of the biggest reasons for the proliferation of sofas today. The mass production of textiles further reduced the price of sofas to the point that it began to become rare to visit a home that didn't have at least one sofa. Whilst the ornately designed sofas did decline in popularity owing to their hand-crafted nature, there has remained a market for exclusive sofa designs which show no signs of abating.

The most common sofa materials today are foam padding wrapped in a textile material with a polyester blend being the most common. Thanks to material advances, helped along in part by developments at NASA making materials for their space program, the foam that is used in sofas is both comfortable and flame resistant, a handy safety feature that was absent from sofas for most of their history. You can also buy sofa coverings in a wide range of materials depending on your personal tastes with anything from real styles and colors to suit any home.

The most common place to find a sofa in a modern home is in the living room, with the size of the room usually being the deciding factor when the owners choose the size. Two-seater and three-seater sofas are the most common sizes that you'll find in almost every living room in the western world and are commonly sold as matching two-piece suites.

It's typical to arrange the sofas at a 90-degree angle to each other making conversation easy, or as is also very common, proving a good viewing angle to a television set. For those lucky enough to have larger homes it's even possible to see sofas in bedrooms so people always have a private space to relax that's separate from their bed. Outdoor seating areas are part of human history and are much liked by members of the public as they go about their
business.