The History of Couches and What They Mean for Our Homes

Post Date: 8/30/2016

The couch. What does it mean to you? For most of us, it has a central and important symbol –it  means our comfort. And this is not simply due to the modern depiction of the couch as a centerpiece for discussion and community. In fact, the couch has been a mainstay of the home and living area for quite some time.

Couches Before

Looking back at ancient times, we see the ancestry of the couch present in the many furnishings that the Greeks and Romans kept around their Hellenic homes. These couches appear to have been more for decoration sake than for comfort. These couches were made out of hard materials suitable only for sitting casually at.

The idea of a single, central couch unit to recline, rest in, and chat did not exist. Something close to this equivalent would have been the reclining chairs adorned with cushions and pillows. These reclining chairs would have been used for dining at table, and for conversation.

The “couch” as concept begins to form

Along with the renaissance came great inventions and groundbreaking new methods in painting, architecture –and the couch? In fact, the couch as we know it today finds its route in the rise of popularity of upholstery found in the renaissance.

Victorian England was the next era to make the sofa or couch a mainstay in the home and common living area. For Victorians, the couch was a symbol of the leisure of its time – an insistence that even the commoners might be able to share in the comfort before reserved solely for the ruling classes.

Couches today

What we know as “the couch” is as much a concept as it is a fundamental aspect of our home. As times have changed, so have couches. Look to the early nineteen hundreds to today, and see a great shift in the couches use, look, and design.

We find a trend towards minimalism as a serious force in the world – the stripping away of embellishments and decoration and reducing the piece to its basic and raw look. This is not to strip away the beauty of the piece. On the contrary, it is meant to add beauty to what might not have been noticed before.

Mid Century Modern Furniture and Gingko’s couches

Gingko’s furniture stands in opposition to the irrational living space, the couches made solely for tv and entertainment. We embrace the classic design of Mid Century modern furniture, and couches that are as much made for conversation and longevity as they are for entertainment and  rationality in the home. We embraces these modern trend in couches, towards the simple, the elegant, and the clean.