A single sofa takes up 300 to 600 hours of skilled labor to make. Even small companies and individuals avail themselves of power saws and other motorized machinery, yet specialized hand tools are still applied to detail work. These include the regulator for stuffing, the "ripping tool," and a type of pliers called diagonal cutters.
A traditional Victorian sofa purchased as part of a parlor suite by Mary Todd Lincoln after her husband's assassination. (From the collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village.)
A traditional Victorian sofa purchased as part of a parlor suite by Mary Todd Lincoln after her husband's assassination.
(From the collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village.)
After President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, purchased an expensive parlor suite for use in her new life as a widow. The suite included a sofa, table, two arm chairs, and several side chairs, and was probably manufactured by J & J.W. Meeks of New York.
Epitomizing the Victorian era, the sofa represents the ultimate in mid-nineteenth century comfort and decoration. The technology of the time allowed for the use of coil springs, giving the seat a cushion-like softness that returns to its taut shape as soon as pressure is removed. New technologies also gave way to the lavishly carved show wood on the back. Ordinarily, the almost three dimensional fruit and flowers design would split the wood, however thin layers of rosewood were cross-directionally glued together to form a stronger wood laminate able to withstand the carving. Once glued together, the entire lamination was steamed and forced to curve with the back of the sofa.
The bent plywood system would be utilized again (100 years later) by Charles Eames in order to create his famous chairs. They would be the stylistic antithesis of Mrs. Lincoln's ornate Victorian sofa, but just as chip and crack resistant.
Henry Prebys
The nitty-gritty of assembly is where the differences between traditional craft and
Sofa factory production become most obvious. Classic hand-tied springs, for instance, may give way to a mechanically attached spring grid if recent factory practice becomes the norm. Such industrial reforms have sparked controversy. The following breakdown is modeled after the handmade process that still defines the industry.