Design Spotlight: Meet Our Sectional Sofa Collections
After over 15 years of perfecting mattresses and bed frames, we’ve taken our expertise outside the bedroom to offer you two brand new, high quality sectional living room collections. Say hello to Logan and Thompson, the latest and brightest in our seating assortment. These matching sets, complete with armchairs, loveseats, and sectional sofas with a reversible chaise, take flexible furniture to the next level.
The contemporary Logan Sectional Collection
The mid-century inspired Thompson Sectional Collection
The beginning
In 2019, our Korean product design team, led by director Jiyun Kim, began conceptualizing these sectional sofas with a few goals in mind.
First, flexibility was key. We were committed to offering the spaciousness of a chaise add-on, but wanted to ensure that the chaise could flip from side to side, adapting to any space.
It was also important that we use our expertise in mattresses to construct the cushions. Just as we craft memory foam mattresses to contour the body in cradled comfort, we wanted a sofa cushion that would “fit” your backside and offer the best possible support.
And lastly, throughout these living room sets we wanted to maintain the ease of assembly that we’re known for. To us, that meant parts that would fit precisely and easily together, built-in hardware that doesn’t require tools, and thoughtful packaging that would guide the process from the very start.
Translating the comfort of a mattress into seating
Crafting the perfect seat cushion was perhaps the most challenging part of the entire design process. To create the cradled feel they were after, our designers quickly found that mattress-like layers didn’t translate well into a comfortable seat. “We realized that the comfort that you feel while laying down and sitting up is completely different. When we actually developed the seat cushions and when we used the same formula as the mattresses, we found it to be very uncomfortable,” Jiyun recalled. The team went through roughly 7 versions of cushion construction before settling on a final design.
In the end, a contoured layer of Green Tea Memory Foam was added between high-density Zinus Base Foam and soft fiber fill. The sculpted edge supports your knees and thighs so you sit securely without the feeling of slipping forward. With a ratio of fiber nearly equal to the amount of foam beneath, this construction is unlike others on the market. After multiple rounds of testing, the design team found this to offer the best comfort experience with a plush, sink-in feel that’s also supportive.
Crafting a customer focused assembly system
Every bit of this collection’s assembly process was designed with the consumer in mind. From the way the pieces are arranged in the box to the way they fit together without tools, to even the number of times you need to flip the sofa before it’s finished (spoiler alert: it’s only once), we wanted to keep the setup low maintenance and simple for the average person.
Jiyun’s team spent nearly two years perfecting the locking mechanism that would secure the arms and back to the steel foundation. They began with bolts that required tightening with a ratchet, but after plenty of internal trial and error, abandoned that initial idea. “While we were developing the locking mechanism, we realized that for some customers, tightening bolts can be challenging,” Jiyun recalled.
After trying out many different versions, the solution they came up with is a locking lever system that only requires the push of a few fingers. It was important that the mechanism be easy to grip and use even for customers who aren’t particularly strong.
Additionally, through perfecting the locking lever system and alignment of the steel frames, it became possible to switch the chaise add-on of the sectional from one side to the other with ease. And by constructing the chaise cushion in two separately encased layers, the team made it easy to flip over while maintaining the originally intended comfort level.
In the end, one of Jiyun’s favorite elements of the design was not in the finished product, but how they were able to package it for assembly. “We even considered the size of the box...and how intuitively customers can figure out the assembly when unboxing the sofa.” Her team spent extra time and attention stacking the parts in the order they would be used for setup. They even selected the box size before putting the pieces in to ensure the most compact and practical experience for customers.
The end result
From the looks of them, you might think that Logan and Thompson were crafted just to look elegant and timeless (and don’t get us wrong, they do). But their ergonomic comfort and intuitive assembly are one-of-a-kind, and the real stars of the show.