The history of furniture

According to some, the history of furniture really begins at the beginning of 16th century -Renaissance. They are right. Renaissance marked the re- awakening of learning and its influence in all the arts. In architecture- visible appreciation of the Classical forms -Roman and Greek. "Awakening" effect covered whole Europe, from Italy to Britain. Especially in isolated Britain, we can notice breakaway from Gothic tradition, influencing all forms of art and architecture. The history of furniture however, begins much earlier.

First furniture, was very simple, mostly adopted from selected pieces of tree roots, branches, or stumps, which natural shapes were close enough to appearance of planned piece. Example of that, you can see on the picture beside. House interiors in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome were different, so were furnishing. In Egypt since 4century BC were made beds and chests. On the turn of 4th and 3thBC - first stools, which after development became a chairs, armchairs and tables. Since a 2nd century BC, Egyptians decorated furniture with inlay, using fine, exotic woods, ivory, precious stones, gold and silver.   Also fine carvings are added to a decoration. First form of "veneer", about 3/8" thick, cut with a copper, or bronze saw,  was also used. In Greece, furniture making became, based partially on Egyptian experience, but resemble its own, individual character. Greek furniture was functional - technically and aesthetic. They characterized in lightness ( physical and visual ), and usefulness. Large variety of Greek furniture, especially those, assigned to seating on it reflects a high level of furniture trade. They were making stools, folding stools, light chairs, chests, tables and of course, very important - different forms of beds. Important, because they consumed meals in beds. When Romans overcome Greece, they adopted there heritage in furniture trade as well, but with a time, Roman furniture became heavier, more monumental and focused on visual appearance - loosing aesthetic values. Characteristic, for house interiors at that time was fewer pieces, compared to a Greek homes. As far as decorating, Romans used Greek ideas, but their new achievement, was use of turned and carved elements, mainly in the shape of animal foot. We can also notice at that time, good quality upholstered pieces. Furniture makers use wooden joints, metal brackets and glue. Wet leather strips, wrapped around glued corners was acting as a clamp, when shrunk during drying. Inlays were glued to the surface with animal and caseine glue. Functional aspects weren't disregarded, or neglected. In Egypt, chest or boxes were made from nailed boards, with a cover often decorated with inlay or carving. In Greece and Rome, chest had drawers, and laminating process - gluing a few layers of wood, with switch grain direction - same as today's plywood- was used. We can assume, that almost all methods of woodworking - cutting, slicing, bending joining, finishing process and upholstering - was known to ancient furniture makers and their work became continuous source of inspiration for furniture trade in Europe and characteristic designs of those times - became  a base for many furniture of following centuries and periods