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Did You Know? |
- Around 30,000 years ago, people started to construct and carve their own furniture, using wood, stone, and animal bones. Early furniture depicting the goddess on a throne such as a Venus figurine
found in Russia. The first surviving extant furniture is in the homes of Skara Brae in Scotland, and
includes cupboards, dressers and beds all constructed from stone. Complex construction techniques such as joinery began in the early dynastic
period of ancient Egypt.
- Ancient Egyptians were among the first to make wooden furniture; the iconic throne of Pharaoh Tutankhamun is a prime example of their intricate designs.
- Chinese furniture, especially during the Ming Dynasty, is known for its elegant lines, detailed craftsmanship, and use of precious woods like rosewood, while Japanese furniture often emphasizes minimalism and functionality, with an emphasis on tatami mats and futons in place of traditional Western-style beds and chairs.
- In Medieval Europe, one of the most famous beds is the late Elizabethan Great Bed of Ware, which was so vast (3.38m long and 3.26m wide) a whole football team could lie in them!. Built by Hertfordshire
carpenter Jonas Fosbrooke about 1590, the Great Bed of Ware is an extremely large oak four poster bed,
carved with marquetry, that was originally housed in the White Hart Inn in Ware, England. The Great Bed of Ware has not only appeared in literature of Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, and Ben Johnson, but it also featured in
rumours surrounding famous people had slept in it at one time!
- In the West, being raised off the floor came to mean that you were of a higher social status. Depending on how important they were, they would have between one and six mattresses stacked on top of each other, and typically the bed and its textiles
would account for around a third of their assets. In his will, William Shakespeare famously left his wife Anne
only one thing, their 'second best bed'.
- The office chair, designed for use at a desk in an office, is usually a swivel chair; it
became popular when Otto Von Bismarck distributed them throughout parliament during his time in office.
- The Volcanic Hanging Chair designed by the Latvian interior designer, Raimonds Cirulis, is a luxurious cocoon-shaped furniture much like the Nestrest hanging lounger by Dedon,
albeit with an altogether different silhouette; this hanging chair is made out of volcanic rock, distinguishes it from all others and takes it to a different level.
- One of the earliest known innovators to have created the modern office chair was Charles Darwin, who put wheels on the chair in his study so he could get to his specimens more quickly.
- The Aeron chair is an office chair designed in 1994 by Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf;
it is produced by Herman Miller.
- The first Adirondack chair was designed by Thomas Lee while vacationing in Westport, New York,
in the Adirondack Mountains in 1903; it was modified by Irving Wolpin, who received U.S. patent #109239 for his design in 1938.
- During the early years of the 19th century, 10 Downing Street was guarded by two men who sat outside of the building in leather chairs that were made by
Thomas Chippendale.
- Chairs, which are supported most often by four legs and have a back, found throughout the world have dated back to 2 BC found in the Mediterranean; it was not until the 16th century that chairs became common.
- Greeks and Romans used Cherry wood to make furniture as early as 400 BC.
- Furniture was made since 3100 BC; a range of unique stone furniture has been excavated in Skara Brae, a Neolithic village located in Orkney
- Greek furniture was typically constructed out of wood, though it might also be made of stone or metal, such as bronze, iron, gold and silver.
- Early American chairs and tables are often constructed with turned spindles and chair backs often constructed with steaming to bend the wood.
- The furniture of the Middle Ages was usually heavy, oak, and ornamented with carved designs.
- Chairs were in existence since at least the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. They were covered with cloth or leather, were made of carved wood and were much lower than today’s chairs, chair seats were sometimes only 25 cm high
- Chairs came to China from India as a form of Buddhist monastic furniture
- Earthquakes occurred frequently in Japan that resulted in making their furniture, which is simple in shape, but it is beautifully decorated with colorful designs of animals, flowers, and scenes
- In ancient Egypt chairs appear to have been of great richness and splendor, the higher ranked an individual was, the taller and more sumptuous was the chair he sat on and the greater the honor. The average Egyptian family seldom had chairs, and if they did, it was usually only the master of the household who sat on a chair.
- Early beds were little more than piles of straw or some other natural material, such as palm leaves, animal skins, or dried bracken.
- Bedding dated to 77,000 BC was discovered in Sibudu Cave, South Africa
- The Egyptians had high bedsteads which were ascended by steps, with bolsters or pillows, and curtains to hang around.
- The Greek bed had a wooden frame, with a board at the head and bands of hide laced across, upon which skins were placed. the bedstead was often
veneered with expensive woods; sometimes it was of solid ivory veneered with tortoise-shell and with silver feet; often it was of bronze..
- Ancient Romans had various kinds of beds; such as chamber bed, for normal sleeping; marriage bed, it was much decorated, and was placed in the atrium opposite the door
and table bed, on which they ate—for they ate while lying on their left sides—there usually being three people to one bed, with the middle place accounted the most honorable position.
- In the 18th century feather pillows were first used as coverings in Germany, which in the fashions of the bed and the curious etiquette connected with the bedchamber.
- During the 17th century, at Versailles, France, women received their friends in their beds, both before and after childbirth, during periods of mourning,
and even directly after marriage
- Iron beds appear in the 18th century; the advertisements declare them as free from the insects which sometimes infested wooden bedsteads.
- Great Bed of Ware, made in about 1580. It is 3.26 meters (10.7 ft) wide, 3.38 meters (11.1 ft) long.
It is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London.
Another bed in the V&A is the Golden Bed created by William Burges in 1879.
- The King Size bed (76 in × 80 in) was introduced in the U.S. in the mid-1950s.
- The earliest high-quality Asian furniture was produced in China during the 200's B.C.
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