Sofas
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What Makes a Modern Sofa Modern?
Beyond being the centerpiece of a modern living room, what is a modern sofa? Using the denotation of the word modern, any sofa being manufactured today is, technically speaking, a modern sofa. But that’s not always what “modern sofa” signifies in interior design.
Some use modern literally, to describe couches made by current designers who use present-day materials and techniques to produce pieces with recognizably 21st-century aesthetics. Despite being technically modern, these chairs are typically described as contemporary sofas, and are distinct in many ways from the furniture pieces that first popularized the modern descriptor.
Most often, when used to describe furniture, modern refers to a transformative period of history following the second world war, when architects, artists, and furniture designers moved away from traditional design styles heavy with impractical embellishment, and toward simpler, more industrial styles – still visually appealing, but more functional. This movement became known as the mid-century modern design movement, with buildings, furniture, and home objects made during this time later earning the labels “modern,” “mid-century modern,” and “MCM.”
Despite being designed nearly a century apart, a mid-century modern sofa and a contemporary sofa still share common characteristics, such that both could still be accurately referred to as modern sofas. Casual design lovers and avid furniture collectors alike have cemented the evergreen popularity of authentic mid-century modern furniture and interior design; many sofas first designed in the mid-1900s are still being manufactured today by brands like Design Within Reach, Herman Miller, and Knoll. Meanwhile, traces of the immensely influential MCM design movement live on in contemporary designers’ techniques and philosophies.
So, onto the next question: What distinguishes a mid-century modern modern couch from a contemporary one?
Defining Mid-Century Modern Sofas vs. Contemporary Sofas
Authentic Mid-Century Modern Sofas
To identify a truly mid-century modern sofa, you can go straight to the source: mid-century modern designers. In modern design, “form follows function,” a philosophy evident in Florence Knoll’s geometrically precise sofa, which replaces the carved solid wood frames and excessive ruching, padding, and tufting of early 1900s sofas with a simple, clean steel frame, neat, straight arms, and subtle tufting.
However, despite its focus on utility, the mid-century modern design movement wasn’t strictly utilitarian; it was underscored by playful experimentation and boundary-pushing. As such, many furniture pieces designed during this time feature fun, biomorphic silhouettes – think Eero Saarinen's inviting, space-age Womb Settee or George Nelson’s aptly named Marshmallow Sofa. MCM designers used accessible materials like steel in inventive ways, bending it to form light, airy sofa legs – as seen on Charles and Ray Eames’ armless Eames Sofa Compact. At DWR, you won’t need to wonder whether a sofa is truly modern. Shop authentic mid-century modern furniture icons like these and more, by the very designers that pioneered the movement.
Minimalist + Contemporary Sofas
With its focus on functional simplicity, the MCM movement naturally paved the way for minimalism, an artistic stripping away of all but the bare essentials in design. Minimalism has come to underscore many contemporary design styles that have emerged since the mid-century, including contemporary Japanese and Scandinavian design, particularly Danish design, exemplified by Danish brands like HAY.
Contemporary sofas marry mid-century modern philosophies with postmodern minimalism, featuring simple frames made of wood or steel, unobtrusive, sometimes splayed-out legs, or no legs at all. Many contemporary sofas are monolithic, appearing as one sculptural form with clean lines flowing neatly from end to end. Sofas and sectionals in DWR’s assortment span a wide range of “modern’ styles, with colors, materials, and silhouettes to suit any modern home.
Types of Sofa
Loveseats + Settees
Two- + Three-Seat Sofas
Futons + Sleeper Sofas
How to Choose a Sofa
Consider sofa dimensions.
To choose the best sofa for your space, first consider dimensions: the dimensions of your space as well as standard sofa and sectional dimensions. This is of utmost importance in smaller spaces. In a smaller home, for instance, you may want to consider an apartment-size sofa – a loveseat, a two-seater sofa, a small three-seater sofa, or a small sectional like the Raleigh Sectional from Design Within Reach.
To answer the question: What size sofa for a living room? It depends on the living room. There really is no standard sofa size, although many fall in the range of 85" to 95" long and 30” to 40” deep, with seat heights of 16” to 20”. Sectional sofa dimensions vary widely and usually are better suited for larger living rooms. A good method for choosing the right size sofa is to place a rectangle of tape on your living room floor where you think you’d like your sofa to fit. Keep in mind the flow of traffic through your home; it’s a good idea to keep approximately two to three feet of walking space around your living room furniture, and 14” to 18” between your sofa and your coffee table. Once you have a rectangle taped down, measure it – those measurements can serve as a rough guideline for the maximum sofa or sectional size that will suit your space.
Choose sofa materials to suit your lifestyle.
With sofa size out of the way, you’re free to consider sofa materials and colors. The two main sofa and sectional materials are as follows:
Leather Sofas: A high-quality leather sofa is a mid-century modern classic, as are leather sectional sofas. Not only is it luxurious to stretch out on a modern leather sofa, but leather is durable, hypoallergenic, and stain-resistant when maintained properly. Leather sofas are available in a wide spectrum of colors, with popular choices being warm brown leather and elegant black leather.
Fabric Sofas: Fabric sofas are comfortable, breathable sofas, made from a wide variety of fibers including cotton, linen, wool, and synthetic. Because they can be upholstered in a vast range of materials, fabric sofas offer you an incredible selection of colors and textures to choose from. Depending on the specific material, fabric sofas can also be highly durable and easy to clean. Design Within Reach offers a large selection of high-quality fabrics to provide plentiful options for your fabric sofa or fabric sectional sofa and also high-quality leather for your choice of leather sofa.
Key considerations here, beyond personal style, are durability, ease of cleaning, and comfort. If you have children and/or pets, it’s a good idea to choose high-performance, easy-to-clean materials like cotton, wool, and high-performance synthetic fabrics. Microfiber sofas are particularly easy to clean. As you browse, make note of colors and materials you like, and think about ordering fabric samples to test softness and see how the colors and textures will look in your space.
If you’d like to dive a little deeper into the characteristics of a reliable modern sofa, check out our sofa buying guide.
