The surprising reason love seats were invented
Thursday, June 6, 2024
Make every day more interesting. Each day a surprising fact opens a world of fascinating information for you to explore. Did you know that….? 
| Original photo by atiatiati/ iStock |
| Love seats were originally designed to fit women's dresses, not couples. | The two-seater upholstered benches we now associate with cozy couples were initially crafted with another duo in mind: a woman and her dress. In 18th-century Europe, fashionable attire had reached voluminous proportions. Panniers (a type of hooped undergarment) were all the rage, creating a wide-hipped silhouette that occasionally required wearers to pass through doors sideways. Of course, not all women wore such full skirts; some historians believe the average woman of modest means owned just four dresses with narrower profiles meant for everyday work. But upper-class women with funds to spare on trending styles adopted billowing silhouettes that often made them unable to sit down comfortably (or at all). Ever astute, furniture makers of the period caught on to the need for upsized seats that would allow women with such large gowns a moment of respite during social calls.
As the 1800s rolled around, so did new dress trends. Women began shedding heavy layers of hoops and skirts for a slimmed-down silhouette that suddenly made small settees spacious. The midsized seats could now fit a conversation companion; some S-shaped versions were called the "gossip chair" But when sweethearts began sitting side by side, the bench seats were renamed "love seats," indicative of how courting couples could sit together for a (relatively) private conversation in public. The seat's new use rocketed it to popularity, with some featuring frames that physically divided young paramours. While the small sofas no longer act as upholstered chaperones, love seats are just as popular today — but mostly because they fit well in small homes and apartments.
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 | | Artist Salvador Dalí was a furniture designer. | | |
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| Artist Salvador Dalí was a furniture designer. |  |  |
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| The bean bag chair's original name was the __. |  |
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 | Numbers Don't Lie |
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 | | Year La-Z-Boy patented the first reclining chair | | 1929 |
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| | | Competitors in the largest game of musical chairs (in Singapore in 1989) | | 8,238 |
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| | Average width (in inches) of a modern love seat | | 60 |
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| | | Rough height (in feet) of the world's largest chair | | 98.5 |
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 | The "world's most expensive love seat" is actually a computer. |
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| The small computers and phones we carry in our bags and pockets are descendants of the monstrously large supercomputers of the '60s and '70s — some of which provided their own seating. Originally designed to process data and crunch numbers at super-fast speeds, supercomputers were known for dominating floor space and budgets. One standout — the Cray-1A — debuted in 1976 and was quickly nicknamed the "world's most expensive love seat" thanks to its 39-square-foot column shape with surrounding bench seating. Considered the fastest supercomputer in the world until 1982, the Cray-1A came with a hefty price tag: $8 million, plus a monthly operating cost of nearly $100,000. | | |
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posted by June Lesley at 5:24 AM
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