Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Traditional Chesterfield Sofa - London Sofas

Traditional Chesterfield Sofa - London Sofas

By Bernie Hanks


The City of London has a wealthy history spanning more than two thousand years from Roman roots right up to its present day status as the host of the 2012 Olympics and financial capital of the planet. Just one modest part of this outstanding story is London sofa upholstery, the city's distinctive contribution to the field of interior style in the late 18th and 19th century. It really is a outstanding story filled with intrigue and surprises, of custom and innovation, which goes on to this day.

London sofa manufacturing in fact traces its beginnings back to a comparable business involving the cutting and stitching of fine garments. Inside the 18th Century, the tailors of Saville Row, now globally distinguished as the place for custom tailoring, developing a new form of Gentleman's attire focused on discreet detail and fit as the new way to show off taste and refinement. Combining technical expertise with modern day technological advances, upholsters soon adopted these principles to make items of home furniture which advance subtly, class and style.

Among the fine examples of a London sofa is the vintage Chesterfield, which comes with a deep buttoned style, rolled armrests along with a organic leather cover. The Chesterfield was originally designed by the Earl of Chesterfield, who pioneered the buttoned effect in order to secure padding firmly to the frame of the sofa. This feature, together with the folded armrests and covering, had been especially designed to prevent the creasing of a Gentleman's suit when seated for lengthy periods, a common issue at the time.

Upon its release as a luxury item, the Chesterfield became hugely popular with the British elite who quickly incorporated Chesterfields into their townhouses, country residences and office buildings. Indeed, such was the cachet connected with the Chesterfield that the deep-buttoned style was adopted for the benches of the Westminster Parliament where it remains to this very day. During a period when the British administered an empire stretching across the globe, the Chesterfield was crowned the ultimate statement piece in the height of quality and style in home decor.

Though its original objective, to stop the creasing of formal attire, is no longer a key consideration informing the purchase method. The appeal of tapping into the design and style heritage of London sofa upholstery has turned out to be a crucial selling point for the Chesterfield, especially for buyers from emerging markets who're particularly enthusiastic to buy into classic European luxury as a lifestyle. With London awakening as a twenty first century global city, there is an added allure to London Sofas with regards to the city's vibrancy and power.

The Chesterfield is now a legendary London Sofa style that is renowned, admired and copied throughout the world. Standard Chesterfields are still produced in small artisan workshops by upholsterers employing original techniques. More recently, the Chesterfield style has also been adapted with materials such as Sheepskin being employed to add a modern fringe to a classic style. London's rich design heritage carries on with areas such as Chelsea becoming important centres of influence upon the global interior style stage.




About the Author:



Share This

No comments:

Post a Comment

Designed By Blogger Templates