Compared to mass-produced Chesterfield sofas, it’s clear to understand why the Chesterfield design is so highly regarded, today more than ever: Meticulously constructed by hand, using robust and enduring materials, an authentic, high-quality Chesterfield that is designed and built to last will stay with your family for generations.
Harris Tweed Orkney in Bracken Herringbone with Brompton Tan Piping
Back in London, leather Chesterfields that looked very like those we know today were becoming more and more popular in the homes and, especially, the offices of wealthy gentleman. Interestingly, while they looked much like modern chesterfields, the construction was rather different.
They would have been simply stuffed with horsehair rather than having spring cushions, and the buttoning probably made the tough, un-sprung leather a lot less comfortable than the sofas we think of today. One theory goes that this was deliberate, and these sofas were commissioned for ante-rooms and waiting areas outside offices, where visitors to the great and good of Victorian London could wait to be seen without getting too comfortable.
As time went on, however, sprung cushions were added to the sofas, and they became more comfortable. By the middle of the 19th Century, Chesterfield sofas were a firm favourite in the living rooms of wealthy Victorians and, from there, rapidly also became popular in the ‘homes away from home’ that were the libraries and smoking rooms of London’s gentlemen’s clubs, now strongly associated with the Chesterfield.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
With the British upper classes now so comfortable on Chesterfield sofas in their homes and clubs, it is hardly surprising that they began to be exported to the furthest-flung corners of the British Empire by army officers and colonial administrators seeking to furnish their residences in India, Canada, Australia and elsewhere. Unsurprisingly, the elegant and classic design remained popular long after the British Empire receded, and today Chesterfields sofa are found in luxury hotel lobbies, private clubs and elegant homes across the globe.
