Sofas have been around for a long time. The history of sofas can be traced back to ancient civilizations. The earliest versions may be low stools or block-shaped seats, usually used for nobles or people of status. Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome all had various types of seats, usually made of wood and cushions.

 

A wooden frame, sponge cushion, and spring sponge seat cushion make up a sofa. In the MCM era, the climax of the development of wooden furniture, there were also sofas, but the sofas at that time and the sofa products before did not deviate from the set pattern of chairs. At that time, the sofas were mainly a combination of wooden chairs, springs, and sponges and had not yet deviated from the fixed image of chairs, so both the armrests and sofa legs were designed with wood.

The real revolutionary progress in the development of sofas was in the 1960s and 1970s. There are two directions of progress.

 

One is to transform the wooden frame of the traditional sofa into a metal frame. Replace the springs of the traditional sofa with elastic bandages. Separate the seat cushion from the frame, and replace the wooden sofa handles and sofa legs with metal accessories.

 

Although the metal material looks slender and delicate, the materials used in the sofa accessories are not economical, but rather quite luxurious. This is also our biggest feeling after years of contact with Nordic MCM antique furniture. The designers of that era were willing to spend money on materials. Moreover, they used wide and thick materials, but you don’t feel clumsy, which is a reflection of the profound skills of these designers.

Zhuokai can produce stainless steel plates up to 1 cm thick, which are bent and welded. The surface is polished, which is close to the electroplating texture. The steel frame structure is wide, thick, sturdy and durable. The imitation model may use iron as the frame, and the thickness of the iron plate is less than 1 cm. The bottom of the stainless steel feet is equipped with thick and wear-resistant nylon foot pads to prevent scratches on the ground.

 

This sofa still looks like a traditional chair, but the product structure and sitting and lying experience are very different from the sofas in the MCM era or even earlier eras in the glorious golden age of design history. This kind of sofa has sofa legs, seat cushions, and back cushions. No matter how revolutionary the structure is, it still has the traditional appearance of a chair. We can call them the continuation of traditional sofas.

 

Another direction for sofas is to remove the sofa legs and use a sponge for the metal frame, seat cushions, and back cushions.

 

This kind of sofa appeared in the 1960s and 1970s as a new material innovation product. Many products emerged in Europe at that time. The most well-known sofa of this kind is the TOGO sofa.

TOGO sofa

 

Most of these TOGO all-sponge sofas are floor-standing and have no sofa legs. They look lazy and natural, which is very different from the traditional-style sofas that sit upright. From the manufacturing material process and visual style, it can be said to be another style of sofa.

 

Whether it is a retro wooden sofa, a high-end metal sofa, or a slightly ugly and footless all-sponge sofa not everyone will say that a sofa that is very comfortable to sit on is good.

 

To give an inappropriate example, European design emphasizes refinement, and the large and fluffy appearance of American sofas is almost unseen. It may be that there are more fat people in the United States, but Europeans, especially those in Northern Europe and German-speaking countries, are still mostly tall and thin. Therefore, the degree of fit between the human body and furniture sofas is also different for each person.

 

A good sofa must have two characteristics

 

1. Not deep enough

Due to traditional cognition, most people still look at whether their feet can touch the ground when choosing a sofa. But in fact, European sofas have long stopped thinking about the problem. The depth of a sofa that can touch the ground is not enough. This way of buying involves using the sofa as a chair. If you focus on whether your feet can touch the ground, you will lose other ways to enjoy the comfort of the sofa.

 

Home is a place to rest the body and mind. People who like to lie down after returning home should have a sofa with enough depth to accommodate their bodies, rather than a bench with cushions.

 

2. Soft and fluffy

The purpose of soft and fluffy is to let the body sink first and curl up on the sofa. It simulates the feeling of a person in the mother's belly. This is probably an instinctive memory, which is very safe and relaxing. But it is easy to make a sofa bigger; it is just a matter of whether to do it or not. Making a sofa soft and fluffy is a technical job; the type and proportion of filling materials, the sewing method of soft bags, etc. are all worth spending some time and repeated testing.