If you are not familiar with the concept of drafting and drafting chairs, seeing one for the first time could prompt you to wonder if the designers were just a wee-bit distracted when they rolled out this particular model. They truly do seem like a chair design gone wrong. The truth is however, drafting chairs are a god-send for all engineers and workplace professionals who work long hours at tall or oddly shaped desks and tables.
Though perhaps not as obscure as some of the other furniture pieces discussed in this series, I chose the rolltop desk for today’s Know Your Furniture segment because to me, the ingenuity of the design was never given the full appreciation or exposure it deserved. Practical, clever and way ahead of it’s time, the rolltop was the mainstay of small business offices at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
The rolltop desk is a 19th century reworking of the pedestal desk with, in addition, a series of stacked compartments, shelves, drawers and nooks in front of the user. The compartments and the desktop surface of a roll top desk can be covered by means of a tambour consisting of linked wooden slats that roll or slide through slots in the raised sides of the desk. In that, it is a descendant in function, and partly in form, of the cylinder desk of the 18th century. It is a relative of the tambour desk whose slats retract horizontally rather than vertically.
I know it’s fairly unlikely that you will come across these admittedly obscure furniture terms at any point in your furniture experience, and if your in the kind of business were you will, chances are you already know the definitions of these terms. Anyhow, we’ll give it a shot in the off-chance that this post will somehow result in you impressing a friend or a colleague…
For this latest installment of the Know Your Furniture series, I thought we might take a little journey back in time and see if we can’t possibly track down the origin and outline a brief history of a particular furniture piece that seems to have been around forever. The Hammock.
No doubt we are all familiar with contemporary hammocks as they are used in the world around us today. The symbol of carefree leisure, hammocks are a fairly simple and functional concept, a piece of material slung between two trees where one might lounge in the sun or sip an iced tea on a hot day.
In this Know Your Furniture post, we will take a quick look at one of the more curious and unorthodox furniture pieces you are ever likely to see.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Kneeling chair.
Description
A kneeling chair is a type of chair for sitting in a position with the thighs dropped to an angle of about 60 to 70 degrees from vertical (as opposed to 90 degrees when sitting in a normal chair), with some of the body’s weight supported by the shins.
In this segment of the Know Your Furniture series, brought to you by Madison Seating, we shall endeavor to explore the different types of couches and sofa’s as well as the differences between them.
A couch or sofa is a piece of furniture for seating two or more persons in the form of a bench, with or without armrests, that is partly or wholly upholstered, and often fitted with springs and tailored cushions. Although a couch is used primarily for seating, it may be used for reclining.
In homes, couches are normally found in the family room, living room, den, sitting room or the lounge. They are also found in hotels, lobbies of commercial offices, waiting rooms, furniture stores, etc.
Pronounced “foe TUR”, a fauteuil is a style of open-arm chair with a primarily exposed wooden frame originating in France in the late 17th century.
A fauteuil is made of wood, and frequently with carved relief ornament. It is typically upholstered on the seat, the seat back and on the arms (manchettes). Some fauteuils have a valenced front seat rail which is padding that extends slightly over the apron. The exposed wooden elements are often gilded or otherwise painted.
Etymology
A hutch is an American English word usually used to describe a set of shelves or cabinets placed on top of a lower unit with a counter and either drawers or cabinets. Hutches are often seen in the form of desks, dining room or kitchen furniture. Frequently referred to by furniture aficionados as a hutch dresser.
History
In the 18th and early 19th century, however, the term hutch or hutch table referred to a tabletop set onto a base in such a way that when the table was not in use, the top pivoted to a vertical position and became the back of a chair or wider settee.[1][2] This was a very useful form at a time when many homes had a large room used for multiple functions, because it allowed a large dining table to swing up and out of the way.[1]
In this, the second installment of Madison Seating’s “Know Your Furniture” series, I would like to take a moment to discuss some of the complex intricacies of a certain widely used but little understood piece of bedroom furniture, the Dresser. Or is it the Armoire? Or… wait… hold on a second, maybe it’s a Chest of Drawers…?
This kind of confusion is exactly what the “Know Your Furniture” series is here to address.
So which is it? What is the difference between them? And which respective instance would be the appropriate use of each term?
Lets find out.
Good morning to you all,
This new series entitled “Know Your Furniture”, is intended in part to remedy a particular injustice in the furniture world. We’ve all been there, standing around a kitchen or living room, cocktails in hand listening to a super-snobbish friend or neighbor describe in excruciating detail the profound nature and exquisite history of their newest furniture acquisition. The group around you listens politely, maybe they have some idea of what this self styled furniture guru is talking about but you wouldn’t be surprised if they were just as clueless as you and were simply employing the exact same strategy that has you looking fascinated, smiling and desperately trying to nod and sigh in the right places.
