Pair Of Togo Chairs

The Togo sofa isn’t the only piece of furniture Michel Ducaroy designed, but it is certainly the one that he will be long remembered for. The cozy, crumpled pillow-like sofa seems never to go out of style, and its features encapsulate Ducaroy’s design philosophy of combining ergonomics and comfort with high-tech synthetic materials like foam, quilting and thermoformed plastics.

Ducaroy was born into a family of French furniture manufacturers who specialized in residential interiors as well as fittings for ocean liners. However, he elected to study sculpture at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, and this foundation would greatly influence his work and the way he thought about shape and form. Ducaroy worked at the family business and later founded his design studio in 1952.

In 1954, Ducaroy began working with Ligne Roset, the French family-run manufacturing giant known across the world for creating high-end seating. There, he was able to propel the research and development of their designs, and his work quickly became integral to the company’s identity.

Ducaroy’s innovations with thermoformed plastics and biomorphic forms can be seen in early designs for Ligne Roset in the ’60s and ’70s, like the cozy, modular Adria chair and low-sitting Kashima sofa. He designed the Togo furniture line in 1973 using an innovative all-foam seating structure that was covered with polyester; decades later the Togo sofa remains a Ligne Roset best seller.

The low rise and unique curve of any Ducaroy sofa make it instantly recognizable, and the distinctly Pop art–inspired, organic forms that the celebrated designer created from synthetic materials like polyester and foam made a powerful statement at their inception, as they continue to do now.

Find a collection of new and vintage Michel Ducaroy sofas, lounge chairs and other furniture on 1stDibs.

While this specific seating is known to all for its comfort and familiar form, the history of how your favorite antique or vintage lounge chair came to be is slightly more ambiguous.

Although there are rare armchairs dating back as far as the 17th century, some believe that the origins of the first official “lounge chair” are tied to Hungarian modernist designer-architect Marcel Breuer. Sure, Breuer wasn’t exactly reinventing the wheel when he introduced the Wassily lounge chair in 1925, but his seat was indeed revolutionary for its integration of bent tubular steel.

Officially, a lounge chair is simply defined as a “comfortable armchair,” which allows for the shape and material of the furnishings to be extremely diverse. Whether or not chaise longues make the cut for this category is a matter of frequent debate.

The Eames lounge chair, on the other hand, has come to define somewhat of a universal perception of what a lounge chair can be. Introduced in 1956, the Eames lounger (and its partner in cozy, the ottoman) quickly became staples in television shows, prestigious office buildings and sumptuous living rooms. Venerable American mid-century modern designers Charles and Ray Eames intended for it to be the peak of luxury, which they knew meant taking furniture to the next level of style and comfort. Their chair inspired many modern interpretations of the lounge — as well as numerous copies.

On 1stDibs, find a broad range of unique lounge chairs that includes everything from antique Victorian-era seating to vintage mid-century modern lounge chairs by craftspersons such as Hans Wegner to contemporary choices from today’s innovative designers.