Tuesday, July 30, 2013

The History Of Bespoke Sofas

By Mark Slately


Bespoke sofa upholstery, as we know it these days, is the culmination of several hundreds of years of dedication towards the craft of sewing, cushioning, stitching and finishing home furnishings. Whilst the origins of furnishings upholstery may be traced back to Ancient Egypt, what we would probably now describe as sofa upholstery developed considerably later on in the course of European history with contributions from each of the key centers of influence - Italy, France, Germany and also the United kingdom.

Prior to the birth of upholstery, home furnishings was deemed purely in the practical sense with little thought for human comfort, type or the interior aesthetic. However, because the Renaissance remodeled the globe of arts and lifestyle, workmanship and tailoring became a new way for the citizens of quickly developing towns and cities to portray their status and wealth. Because the way culture perceived clothing and furniture modified, wealthy individuals started to pay much closer consideration to both what they wore along with the style of their interior space, giving rise to the idea of a bespoke purchase.

The phrase bespoke, which originated from the English term bespeak in the 15-16 century, explained the approach by which formal attire was purchased. At that time, tailors and upholsterers would explain cloth as being "spoken for" by an specific customer whose outfit would then be handcrafted in accordance to their exact specifications and individual taste. From Paris in the 17th Century to London years later, where suit tailoring led sofa upholstery was quickly to follow.

The basic tenets of sofa design and style - body, springs, padding, top-cover and finishes were developed during this period. However, it wasn't until the age of Victorian opulence that creative influences and an concentration on comfort and ease began to shape the design process. As interest in revolutionary curved designs increased, upholsterers created sophisticated stitching methods permitting stuffing to closely adhere to the curvature of the couch frame. As higher quality steel springs grew to become far more obtainable, upholsterers turned out to be able to make sofas more comfortable than ever before.

Following the industrial revolution, sofas became a staple home item - produced on an industrial scale and distributed to the mass-market. In this new environment, selections of design, type, fabric and finish became standardised around a smaller group of commercial feasible models. Whilst this has had the effect of making sofas much more inexpensive to the general public it's also restricted the amount of choice accessible for all those who want to buy sofas which may be customised with regards to size, design and style, material or finish.

Consequently, many discerning consumers, dissatisfied with mass-produced options, are actually opting for sofas where every part of the upholstery procedure can be spoken for in precisely the same style as it had been in the past. To satisfy this new need, bespoke upholsterers are drawing on traditional techniques but additionally adapting modern day technologies to design and produce excellent authentic designs. As a result, bespoke sofas are becoming more and more well-known in a world where ready-made sofas have long controlled the market.




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