When it comes to knowing the names of iconic sofas, I'm not always the best at remembering. While I have a few of the names down, generally I spend my time referring to them with a vague description. The "sort-of low-to-the-floor bubbly one", for example, or the "relaxed one that looks like it's folded in half" — I'm not, if you hadn't already guessed, the person you want on your team for charades.
But knowing not only the names but the design references, for design famous couches will make your life a lot easier when it comes to pinning down your style, whether you're an interior designer or just looking for inspiration for the best sofa for your own home. Not only will it help you find, and buy, the sofa you have in your mind's eye, but also find ideas that riff off the same design values, if that $20,000 vintage couch isn't quite in your budget.
To start you off on your mission to learn about the most iconic couches, I asked the interior designers of 1stDibs 50, a group curated by the global specialists in reselling design classics and modern wonders of the interior world, the question: which couch is iconic to you?
I'll be back to update this feature later with some of my own choices but, for now, these are the sofas that some of the world's best designers want you to know.
1. ABCD Sofa by Pierre Paulin for Artifort
Year: 1960s
Designer: Pierre Paulin
Chosen by Los Angeles's Brigitte Romanek, the ABCD sofa is a remarkable and highly recognizable design that hasn't, really, been duplicated. "Paulin’s ABCD sofa is a sculptural masterpiece that is incredibly comfortable," Brigitte tells us. "I love when pieces show this duality, that something can be art and high."
It's a perfect example of how Paulin used naturalistic, undulating forms in his designs, and while many of the originals, like this one from 1stDibs, feel distinctively 70s, I've seen versions in boucle that feel perfectly pitched for modern decorating right now.
The design might not even be the one you recognize most from Pierre Paulin, too. His Groovy Chair is an iconic chair in its own right, while his Dune Couch created the idea of the pit sofa and has become a modern design classic, too.
2. Curva Sofa by Joaquim Tenreiro
Year: 1950s
Designer: Joaquim Tenreiro
Style: Modernist
In my search for design classics, the name Joaquim Tenreiro kept popping up with designers, and while it's not a name I'd come across before, his work is a big influence for many of the designers on this list, including New York designer Damon Liss.
"Born in Portugal to a master woodworker, Joaquim Tenreiro moved to Brazil and was commissioned to create furniture for a home by Oscar Niemeyer, designing modern furniture for the Brazilian lifestyle," Damon explains. "He is now considered a pioneer of Brazilian modernism."
His choice of Tenreiro's designs for his iconic sofa that best encapsulates this modern interior design style? The Curva. "This elegant and functional mid-century sofa is such a ‘design classic’ that it can be found in the Prada store in Miami," Damon explains. "It celebrates his design aesthetic with beautiful, curvaceous arms, functional seating for four, and native wood legs."
3. Ours Polaire Sofa by Jean Royere
Year: 1940s
Designer: Jean Royere
Style: Modernist
Ours Polaire translates to 'polar bear', by which Jean Royere's design classic is better known in the English-speaking world. The Polar Bear Sofa is undoubtedly iconic, famous for its symmetrical curves and loved by designers around the world.
"It's timeless and graceful, the perfect anchor to a seating area," interior designer Fern Santini says.
Originally conceived in the 1940s, the Polar Bear Sofa uses wood bending techniques to create its signature curves, clad with foam for a plush, comfortable seat.
It's not the only of Royere's designs still loved today. The likes of the designer's wrought iron dining chairs and kitchen stools have surfaced as one of the bigger interior design trends this year.
Price: $1,199.99
Material: Teddy fleece
Many modern curved sofas that taper at each end take inspiration from this famous sofa design.
4. Luigi Caccia Dominioni Fasce Cromate Sofa
Year: 1960s
Designer: Luigi Caccia Dominioni
Style: Mid-century modern
A piece of mid-century modern furniture design, the Fasce Cromate sofa might be more iconic from the rear than it is from the front. "This sofa from the 1960s, by the great architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni, has the most compelling back," Adam Charlap Hyman, principal of interiors at Charlap Hyman & Herrero, tells me. "The chromed metal elements almost remind me of Japanese lacquer designs found on boxes and screens."
The architect's designs often used metal accents alongside its textile forms. "The whole sofa is plush, yet extremely light — boxy and sturdy, but seemingly very delicate," Adam says.
Price: $1,135
Materials: Velvet, stainless steel
This chrome-backed sofa gives more of an Art Deco vibe, but is a chic take on this Italian design nonetheless.
5. Diesis Sofa by Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia
Year: 1970s
Designer: Antonio Citterio
Style: Mid-century modern
You won't often see replicas of an iconic leather sofa such as the Diesis by B&B Italia, but that doesn't make it any less of an important piece of modern design.
"The Diesis Sofa is a design of visual push and pull," Brooklyn-based designer Leyden Lewis says. "It has a beautifully exposed slender chrome exoskeleton holding up deliciously thick cushions. It feels strong and weighted but also as if it’s elegantly floating."
Its distinctively cushioned, generously proportioned arms further this contrast with the more industrial frame, giving you both a sense of lightness and plushness both at once. "I think this expertly paired duality will contribute to the sofa’s desired look in future rooms to come," Leyden says.
Price: From $2,099
If you love the idea of these comfortable arm cushions, try a design such as this one from West Elm, which brings the idea to a more traditional couch form.
6. Florence Knoll Relaxed Sofa
Year: 1960s
Designer: Florence Knoll
Style: Mid-century modern
If there's one sofa that has influenced modern design, especially when it comes to the resurgence of mid-century modern couches, it might just be the Florence Knoll. The form is like mid-century architecture scaled down, while the tufted seat cushions have become the hallmark of replicas of sofas from this era.
"This piece exemplifies the geometric shapes and functionality of mid-century modern design while featuring deep seats that maximize comfort," Washington-based designer Zoe Feldman says.
Price: $1,899
Material: Heathered weave
With similar mid-century tufting and a classic leg, this sofa is a pretty faithful recreation of the era's couches.
7. Jean Prouvé, S.C.A.L. Daybed
Year: 1950s
Designer: Jean Prouvé
Style: Mid-century modern
It bears a resemblance to another iconic daybed design, the Barcelona Chair by Knoll, from around the same time, but this piece has something that sets it apart. "This piece was originally designed for the mining town of Cansado in Mauritania, in Western Africa, and was a collaboration piece with Charlotte Perriand, who crafted the swiveling tablet, adding a natural charm to the dark fabric and black metal frame," says interior designer Brigitta Spinocchia Freund.
"Design shouldn’t be staged, but is more about comfort, usability and pleasurable pieces that are collectible and fit in with you, not the other way around," Brigitta adds. "This piece is a true example of that, seamlessly combining form and function." Using a daybed in a living room has come into its own in open-concept spaces, to create not only usable seating, but a soft divide for the space.
Price: $1,498
Material: Velvet
While it doesn't have this designs signature table attachment, this mid-century inspired daybed has similar bolster cushions as part of its design.
8. Sesann Sofa by Gianfranco Frattini for Cassina
Year: 1960s
Designer: Gianfranco Frattini
Style: Mid-century modern
A true design icon, you might not know the Sesann Sofa by name, but you will undoubtedly by looks. With its leather cinched in by tubular chrome bars, it makes for an unforgettable silhouette
"We lean into Italian sofas a lot and this Gianfranco Frattininf or Cassina is a staple look that marries comfort with mega style," interior designer Monica Fried says. "I love it for smaller spaces like an office."
Once again, it's a sofa that's rarely duplicated meaning it stands apart as a vintage piece, though now re-issued, as a piece of original design.
Price: $1,067.45
While not a close match for this iconic sofa, this curvy couch share a design language in terms of its plumpness.
What are the most iconic sofas?
There are plenty of sofas you might deem more iconic than the picks on this list, though it depends on where your design preferences lay.
Other iconic sofas include:
- Camaleonda, by B&B Italia
- Togo, by Ligne Roset
- Cloud sofa, by Timothy Oulton
- Serpentine sofa, by De Sede
- Marenco sofa, by Arflex
- Mah Jong sofa, by Hans Hopfer
- Soriana sofa, by Scarpa
- Bubble sofa, by Roche Bobois
