Aralia Sofa

With enduring designs like the immensely plush, Pop art–inspired Togo lounge chair and sofa, Ligne Roset has become synonymous with radical luxury furniture. However, when Antoine Roset (1841–93) started the company in 1860 in the small French town of Oussiat, its focus was on wooden umbrella handles.

In 1892, Ligne Roset’s founder expanded with a property in Montagnieu where he set up a wood-processing factory, eventually expanding into manufacturing chairs. After his death, his wife, Marie-Victorine, took over before his son, Emile Roset, began leading the company in the 1910s.

It wasn’t until after World War II that Antoine’s grandson, Jean Roset, would recognize the need for furniture in settings like schools, hospitals and retirement homes and take inspiration from Scandinavian modern design for functional pieces made primarily from affordable beech.

Under Jean, Ligne Roset supplied quite a few European institutions with beautiful wood furnishings. In the 1970s, he shifted the company’s focus again, this time looking to domestic and residential markets. Around this time, Jean’s two sons, Pierre and Michel, joined the company.

Ligne Roset opened its first store in 1973 with one of the most popular collections being designer Michel Ducaroy’s Togo modular sofa and chairs — classics of contemporary French design that look like oversize bent pillows.

After the success of this initial designer collaboration, Ligne Roset brought on more guest designers over the following decades, including Didier Gomez, Pascal Mourgue, Peter Maly, Pierre Paulin, Inga Sempé and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. Paulin’s Elysée sofa and Pumpkin chair — designed in 1971 for Elysée Palace — are among the brand’s most popular pieces. In 1975, the company introduced its Cinna brand, known to collectors for the Sandra sofa designed by Annie Hiéronimus and other alluring seating.

Ligne Roset continues to be run by the Roset family who works on revolutionary furniture in partnership with a variety of collaborators. It has operated in Briord since 1973 where it produces its iconically sleek and innovative pieces.

Find new and vintage Ligne Roset sofas, lounge chairs, tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.

Black leather, silk velvet cushions, breathable bouclé fabric — when shopping for antique or vintage sofas, today’s couch connoisseurs have much to choose from in terms of style and shape. But it wasn’t always thus. 

The sofa is typically defined as a long upholstered seat that features a back and arms and is intended for two or more people. While the term “couch” comes from the Old French couche, meaning to lie down, and sofa has Eastern origins, both are forms of divan, a Turkish word that means an elongated cushioned seat. Bench-like seating in Ancient Greece, which was padded with soft blankets, was called klinai. No matter how you spell it, sofa just means comfort, at least it does today.

In the early days of sofa design, upholstery consisted of horsehair or dried moss. Sofas that originated in countries such as France during the 17th century were more integral to decor than they were to comfort. Like most Baroque furnishings from the region, they frequently comprised heavy, gilded mahogany frames and were upholstered in floral Beauvais tapestry. Today, options abound when it comes to style and material, with authentic leather offerings and classy steel settees. Plush, velvet chesterfields represent the platonic ideal of coziness. 

Vladimir Kagan’s iconic sofa designs, such as the Crescent and the Serpentine — which, like the sectional sofas of the 1960s created by furniture makers such as Harvey Probber, are quite popular among mid-century modern furniture enthusiasts — showcase the spectrum of style available to modern consumers. Those looking to make a statement can turn to Studio 65’s lip-shaped Bocca sofa, which was inspired by the work of Salvador Dalí. Elsewhere, the furniture of the 1970s evokes an era when experimentation ruled, or at least provided a reason to break the rules. Just about every area of society felt a sudden urge to be wayward, to push boundaries — and buttons. Vintage leather sofas of that decade are characterized by a rare blending of the showy and organic.

With so many options, it’s important to explore and find the perfect furniture for your space. Paying attention to the lines of the cushions as well as the flow from the backrest into the arms is crucial to identifying a cohesive new piece for your home or office.

Fortunately, with styles from every era — and even round sofas — there’s a luxurious piece for every space. Deck out your living room with an Art Deco lounge or go retro with a nostalgic '80s design. No matter your sitting vision, the right piece is waiting for you in the expansive collection of unique sofas on 1stDibs.