History of furniture transformers

The problem of lack of free space has worried mankind since very ancient times, and this pushed for new inventions. Gradually, over time, furniture elements appeared that could be folded and unfolded, and furniture transformers appeared.

In this article we will travel through the pages of history, and will conduct a small “investigation” and find out how this furniture appeared and trace its history of development to the present day. Transforming furniture has become a familiar affair quite recently, but this does not mean that its history is pale and not interesting.

The struggle for centimeters of space appeared a long time ago, but along with the free space, people also needed comfort, which was achieved and achieved through high-quality and comfortable furniture.

So, let’s go back in time to figure out how and when such useful and versatile furniture as transformers arose.

Furniture transformers of the ancient world.
Such furniture was known as far back as “gray prescription”, namely, folding stools from Egypt and ancient Roman curtain chairs can be considered the first transformers. The mechanism of such furniture was very simple, but that, the oldest technology is often used in our time. The mechanism is crossed legs, of which there were two pairs, and in the middle they were joined by a nail.

So in those ancient times, they saved space, laid out a stool, if necessary, and when it was no longer needed, it was saved, thereby saving free space.

Since the 17th century, such a stool is indispensable for hiking, for work, etc. And nowadays it is also used for fishing or just for nature trips.

Furniture transformers 17-18 centuries.
The era, which replaced the Middle Ages, gave mankind a lot of new and interesting things, among these innovations was furniture that could turn.

In the 17th century, the so-called “birdcage” appeared – this is a transformer table, at which the tabletop rose. In the intervals between meals, he was pushed back to the wall so that he would not take space and not interfere. Then they began to attach the seat to such a table – this is how the real transforming furniture turned out.

A hundred years have passed, and the next transformer was invented by humanity – a symbiosis of a chair and a library ladder. The mechanism was also quite simple: the back of the chair reclined, and its lower part became the top rung of the ladder.

The next stage in the development of furniture transformers was the emergence of a variety of mechanisms that allowed to embed furniture in secret drawers or sections.
Transforming furniture of the 19th century.
The 19th century is the century of industrialization and the unprecedented rise of science and technology. That is why this period is characterized by a significant increase in the level of urbanization – there are much more residents in cities, and apartments have decreased. This factor led many inventors to invent comfortable and versatile furniture. And so it appeared: a sofa bed, a chair bed, a traveling chest transforming into a bed …

Numerous wars led to the invention of many furniture transformers, which also characterize the 19th century. The soldiers in numerous campaigns also wanted to surround themselves with comfort, so they took with them folding chairs, beds and tables.

It was the developers of outdoor furniture that made a huge contribution to the history of the development of furniture transformers, “peaceful” developers could learn a lot from them and adopt a couple of ideas.

Almost native to us the 20th century.
At the end of the second millennium folding chairs, a sofa bed and a chair bed became a common occurrence. It was hard to imagine a Soviet apartment in which there would be no creaky folding sofa, but somewhere in the furniture transformers, a chair had to be placed.
But in neighboring Europe, the designers made the next and significant step, they made the transition from furniture-transformers to transforming interiors.

There were developed entire mini-complexes in which one could live as a full-fledged apartment, here a minimum of space was used to the maximum. One room could easily turn into another and into a third, for example, the living room could become a bedroom or a study. Such developments belong to Joe Colombo, Werner Panton and Ettore Sottsassu.

A famous architect who likes to develop futuristic projects has come up with a house that will become indispensable when there is little space on earth. The house was a cylinder with a diameter of two meters, in which all the necessary residential areas were easily placed.

But, we hope that no one will have to live in such a cylinder.

That was the story of so popular and popular furniture today. Furniture transformers will always help you solve problems with lack of space.