Futons - From Invention to Household Name

Futons are an interesting category of furniture as they weren’t so much established in main stream retail stores originally but in specialty stores and waterbed stores. Looking back over the last twenty five years since futons first came onto the scene is an interesting look into the birth of a furniture category that would soon become a household name. In this article we’ll take a look at the early days of the futon industry and take a brief look at where it is today.

Back in 1983 a gentleman by the name of Nikita Grigoriev filed a patent for what he called “convertible furniture”. The heading doesn’t really seem remarkable and the abstract of the patent was rather generic in terms of what it described but there’s a line of text which pretty much says it all about this furniture. It reads “a piece of furniture which is convertible from a bed to a sofa utilizing the geometry of its component parts to facilitate conversion from one mode to the other.” If someone has to describe what a futon is that sentence is it.

The earliest futon designs like the one Mr. Grigoriev had were considered by today’s standards as tri-fold futon frames. What this means is that three separate wood sections made up the foundation that the mattress would rest on. The frame itself used these three sections to convert from sofa/chair down into a bed. Many of the earliest futons sold were these frames made most often from poplar, spruce or pine woods and sat very low to the ground. An all cotton futon mattress would be placed on the frame and the user was ready to go. Popular for college dorms or studio apartments these were an affordable alternative to mainstream furniture.

The futon industry was still in its infancy when Nikita Grigoriev first introduced his convertible furniture or futon as it would come to be called. Futon is actually of Asian origins and refers to a type of mattress that is used there. Being only 3-4 inches thick it is laid on the ground and slept on. It was an American idea to build a frame and place the mattress on top of it. Soon the name futon was used to describe these convertible pieces of furniture and the name stuck and is still used today.

Even though the tri-fold design was a success it didn’t quite fill the need for everyone who like the idea of futons but wanted it to be more like regular furniture in look and function. In 1985 a patent was filed by Robert Fireman’s Furniture Gallery which incorporated arms into the sides of the futon frame. This new futon invention was made up of a seat and back section and two connecting rails. This design gave futons the look of a traditional sofa and could cater to the look that many people were looking for. At the same time it provided the same function of converting from a sofa to a bed in a similar fashion to that of the frame Mr. Grigoriev invented.

This style of futon would come to be called the bi-fold design and would soon dominate the industry in a few years as the number one selling design in futon frames. Many of today’s manufacturers have also created matching furniture like loveseats and chairs that will match to the futon sofas allowing you to have an entire room of convertible furniture. Designs in arm styles have also come a long way. Mr. Fireman’s arm initial arm design was a simple open look that helped to facilitate the operation of his frame. Newer designs quickly followed including arts and crafts designs, the ever popular mission look and most recently more exotic designs with sweeping outer features and curving lines. Futon mattresses and futon covers were also developed and are available in many of the resources used today in regular furniture. New styles are introduced yearly by the major futon suppliers and it’s always fascinating to see what new modern or classic design is incorporated into the newest products.

In this article we’ve explored a little of the history of futons and where we are today. We read about Nikita Grigoriev and his contributions to creating “convertible furniture” as he called it. The first in a long line of futon tri-fold frame designs. We also learned about Robert Fireman and his introduction of sofa futons or bi-fold frames. With the history of these two futon pioneers we also took a step forward into today’s futons and talked briefly about the products available today and how they share many of the same traits with their futon ancestors. I hope this article has given you a glimpse into a unique furniture category just moving beyond 25 years and into the future.