Earliest and Modern Ottomans

The ottoman furniture consists of an upholstered bench or seat with padding. In earlier times its use was limited in the form of stools or footstools only. But with time, its use has diversified from simple footrests to delicate coffee tables. A piece of ottoman furniture never consists of any arm or backrest and this is what that makes it distinctive from other furniture.

It is believed that the origin of word “Ottomans” and the furniture it depicts came into existence in Egypt, which came to Europe in the 19^th century via France. In French the ottomans word denotes fabric and the standard ottomans furniture too is use to be covered with fabric in order to hide its base. The first in line of ottomans furniture was the footstool that was designed in Egypt under Ottoman Empire in 18^th century.

Though, the ottoman word was taken as such in English too, many other synonyms for the ottomans furniture were also evolved. For example: hassocks, tuffets, footstools and pouffes. But one should not misunderstand the ottoman footstools with an ordinary stool that comes with standard living room furniture. The distinctive feature of the ottoman footstool is its padding and fabric cover that completely hides the base.

Most of the ottoman furniture can be used as the storage ottomans thanks to their box-like structure. Some of the larger ottomans are commonly used for storing the spare blankets. The smaller ottomans are constructed with a cushioned top to make them comfortable as a footrest or a low seat.

Whether it was an ottoman table or simply an ottoman footrest there were no legs in the earliest ottomans and hence they used to be in direct contact with the floor. The earliest ottomans were primarily used by the Ottoman emperors and their subordinates and so the expensive carpets were laid beneath the ottomans. But in the modern world there are few people who can afford such a luxury and hence with time the ottomans were provided with short and sturdy legs. The lid of the earliest ottomans was free to be removed completely from its base, but now most of the ottomans are provided with hinged lids.

With the passing of time people’s taste about the fashion changed and as such the designs of ottoman furniture too. Now, several different types of ottomans with different shapes, sizes, colors and designs are being manufactured, like brown ottoman, bench ottoman, leather ottomans, coffee table ottoman and many others.

Yang Anderson writes extensively on furniture such as ottomans.

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