"Today’s chair is yesterday’s love seat" - the rise of comfort

Le Corbusier's LC2 armchair (1928) as seen at The Lollipop Shoppe

An article in yesterday's New York Times, called Relax. There's plenty of room, examines the increased proportions of furniture in recent years. The piece begins, "Home stores these days, especially mass-market retailers, are filled with enormous furniture: coffee tables big enough to land an airplane on and 'luxe depth' sofas with sink-in cushions that could easily double as guest beds."

Locus Chair by Anastasija Mass

Michelle Enders, senior buyer at Raymour & Flanigan, is quoted saying, “People want the furniture to be more comfy", while interior designer Annie Elliott confirms that her clients are increasingly requesting extreme comfort.

WGSN-homebuildlife has been tracking this lifestyle shift over several seasons. The idea of extreme comfort is examined in recent WGSN-homebuildlife reports Chairs that hug and Cocoon furniture. The increasing proportions of the modern-day sofa are explored in The contemporary Chesterfield, while the trend for softness in areas of furnishings other than seating is reported on in Soft storage, and the evolving function of the sofa is examined in The new sofa-scape.

Subscribers can also see how our preference for emotive, comforting furniture will develop over the next few seasons in our A/W 13/14 macro trend, Living Design.