Best Designer Sofas for Your Office

Sofas in the office play a surprisingly vital part in office life. A reception area sofa will be one of the first things seen by visitors, including clients and potential members of staff, and sets the tone for their experience of your company. Meanwhile, sofas in meeting rooms or staff breakout areas are an integral part of the office design and ultimately how staff and visitors feel about their workplace.

Melrose Grand Sofa in Oscar Velvet Charcoal

There are a few quicker and easier things you can provide to help people’s workplace satisfaction than a few elegant, comfortable sofas where they can do a spot of work away from their desk or hold an ad-hoc meeting.

Ideal characteristics of an office sofa

Office sofas can take many forms, but can often be considerably more quirky and unusual than sofas for the home. They have the advantage of needing to fit into the often bright and wild colour schemes of corporate interior design, rather than the more pared-back stylings of living space. They also benefit from often being in larger spaces, where a bright or unusual colour is less likely to dominate or take over. Much more than a piece of home furniture, office sofas benefit from being eye-catching and something people will remark upon. These qualities give you the chance to play with colours, shapes and styles you would never normally consider, and to drop sofas into unusual settings and spaces. An Edwardian Chesterfield sofa in a highly modern conference room, for example, or a lime green couch in a converted barn.

Aspen Chaise in Soft Wool Wolf Amatheon

Aside from freedom with design, though, there are some practical considerations with office sofas that are worth bearing in mind. They’re likely to see quite heavy use and, let’s face it, people don’t always treat office furniture with the respect they would a sofa in their home. Wear, tear, fading, pen marks and coffee stains are all likely to beset your sofas, so it’s worth choosing a fabric that is hard-wearing, robust and ideally easy to clean.

Designer fabric sofas

When you’re choosing a designer fabric sofa for the office, you should have all the colour options you could possibly want, so it won’t be hard to find something that fits your colour scheme, whether that means a particular brand colour or just the brightest shade of hot pink you can track down.

Fabric sofas are also comfortable and relatively easy to clean, with fabrics such as wool or wool blends being particularly hard-wearing and naturally resistant to stains and marks.

Salone-Content by Terence Conran

Velvet office sofas

Choosing a velvet sofa for the office can seem like a bold choice as they are a little less hard-wearing than other fabrics and can become crushed and worn. However, many modern velvets are surprisingly robust, and the great advantage is the eye-catching, stylish and retro look they provide. No one can resist sitting on a velvet sofa, and if the luxurious, comfortable feel they provide makes the office environment more pleasant and creative then surely that’s worth it.

Hardy 3 Seater with Standard Back in Modena Sand B

Choosing a designer sofa brand for the office

The Content range by Terence Conran is perfect for the office – with a variety of styles that all feature similar sleek, minimalist lines and slim, square arms and backs, they are perfect for the modern, sophisticated office. Projecting cool and calm, they are ideal for a meeting room or reception area, or a quiet private office.

Aster – Content by Terence Conran

All of the Content range are available in muted greys, blues and light browns, as well as brighter popping colours like red and pink, so you can choose whether they blend into your office décor or stand out and catch the eye.

Ellis-Content by Terence Conran

As a counterpoint to the slim, modern stylings of the Terence Conran range, Duresta sofas provide more classically styled designer sofas. With traditional features such as turned wooden legs, brass wheels and scrolled arms, Duresta sofas bring a bit of glamour to even the most modern office. They’re also available in a wide range of beautifully patterned fabrics, making them impossible to ignore.

Soho Corner Group (LHF 2 Seater Unit and RHF Chaise) shown in Casa Plain Carbon