With the evolution of mankind, the things associated with the man have also evolved. We can never thank enough our ancestors, who had a keen realization of their rising needs, and went extra miles to discover the panacea.

Similarly, discovery and evolution of all sofa styles are also one of the biggest and vital processes that enables us to place our body comfortably. From hard-stone seat, to the inadvertent bronze or metal seats, to the spongy supple sofa sets that we take for granted today, following is the history of this beneficent process:

1. 3100 - 2500 BC: Being the first ever idea of placing our haunches on something raised higher than the level of the earth, Stone boxes were used as sofas in the stone age. Those stone seats were generally placed near the fireplace and were sometimes covered with animal fur. Usually, the honorable members of the society were allowed to use those sofas then.

2. AROUND 1500 BC: This was the period when the concept of the chair was first coined. The chair first invented could only accommodate one person at a time, who preferably used to be the dignified person of the group. These chairs had armrests and footrests but no padded sitting like the sofa sets today.

3. 300 BC - 500 AD: The legacy of allowing only the dignitaries to sit on the chair, continued till this era, the only difference being that the chair had a reclining feature now! The Reclining feature was a symbol of status and spongy padded seats, like sofa sets today, were still unheard of!

4. 500 AD- 1000 AD: The elongated Longhouse chairs, used with mats and blankets, came to the rescue of the common man! This was the simple, primitive long chair that was created with the idea to serve for the comfort while asleep! This is where the idea of padding the sofa sets originated.

5. 1680-1750 FRANCE: Available only to the British and the French upper classes, Louis XIV extended the idea of using padded-seat sofa sets to relish the taste of comfort. The canape sofa, could adequately accommodate two to three persons at a time and more than a symbol of status, this canape sofa was used as a basic utility and for decoration purposes too.

6. 1754 - 1800: The first, fully upholstered sofa set, invented by Sir Thomas Chippendale, became the most yearned-for thing in the early 18th Century. This design was named as Camel-back design because of the long arched backrest, it had, to support the human spine. The camel-back sofa sets are still used due the timelessly beautiful architecture they are attributed with.

7. LATE 18TH CENTURY: The Chesterfield designed sofa sets became hugely popular during the early Medieval Period. This rounded, upholstered sofa set with a shorter back is still used for the beauty it adds to the living room. In the yesteryear, this design was used for conservative purpose with ethnic motifs, but today it can flexibly be used with sinuous lines and odd symmetry.

8. 1914 - 1939: Simple, clean shapes were too mainstream which forced the people in the early 19th Century to recreate some imaginations on the sofa fabrics. Experiments with the materials and colors of the sofa set and embodying various inspirations on them lead to the invention of Artistic Style Sofa sets.

9. EARLY 20TH CENTURY: Sofas, in this Postmodern era, extended to become more padded and more functionally versatile, according to the need of the hour. Bright colors with odd designs or new sofa architectures like divan sofa sets, Lounge sofas,etc. Came into existence.

10. 21st CENTURY: Chic-like sofa sets having the best of the two worlds, i.e. using an exquisite combination of older patterns and newest palette designs, with extra padding are still widespread.

Over the period of many years, the use of sofa has always remained the same, only the structural modifications continue to happen. The modification of the sofa sets not only dictates the type of life style, but also the necessity, fashion or art. So feet up and relax!

Author's Bio: 

The above article narrates the history of modification of the sofa sets according to the change in lifestyle and fashion. Over the period, the modern sofas online has become an important place in our living rooms, the void in whose absence can just not be fulfilled by any other piece of furniture.