Today the variety of designs available on the market is huge – all you have to do is take a look at the range of Love Seats on our website to see this.
But the question on many people’s lips is –
‘who designed the first one?’
The ever evolving love seat design …
It’s not clear who designed the very first one but it’s believed that this ‘compact’ style of seating can be traced back to the 1600’s.
The first designs were not supposed to promote love between two people they were, in actual fact, meant as a seating option to accommodate ladies and their huge, flamboyant dresses during the 17th and 18th Centuries.
These designs were actually the first Setees.
The term ‘Love Seat’ was actually coined in the 19th Century when it was realised that these smaller seats provided the perfect intimacy for courting couples to share their love for each other.
It is also thought that the first variations on the Setee style of the design were the eye-catching Tete-aTete’s or Shimoise’s of the mid-19th century that were built with the seats facing in different directions around a common armrest in the middle that allowed the lovers to gaze into each other’s eyes.
Over the years the design has evolved into many different forms for both indoor and outdoor use.
The Companion Seat is a common variation on the Love Seat design.However, one thing has remained the same across all the varying designs – the novelty factor and the fact that they lend themselves to use in more compact spaces or as complimentary seating alongside larger sofa sets.
Below are a few examples from our catalogue.
The Drift Love Seat
Half Moon Love
Imperial Duo Love SetWe would like to reference the following pages that were really helpful whilst researching this article.
http://www.overstock.com/guides/history-of-the-sofa-loveseats
http://blog.pennlive.com/life/2012/02/the_love_seat_provides_comfort.html
