Like any gracious host, a good sofa’s purpose is to make all who enter a home comfortable. After all, it’s where guests crash after a particularly satisfying home-cooked meal, and also serves as a refuge for friends who’ve had too many glasses of rosé and home starts to feel so far away. If a sofa starts to look dilapidated and worn out, it could reflect on the inner life of frazzled host, who doesn’t normally entertain, while an overly pristine one gives off the impression that one is welcome to stay long enough to admire, but not much longer than that. (Let’s not get started on hosts who cover their sofas in plastic.)

It follows then that making a good investment on a gorgeous sofa that’s as pleasurable to sink in to as it is to gaze at would be a worthwhile one. But which quality should take precedence? “The characteristics that make a good sofa cannot usually be seen. It is what’s inside it—the quality of the wood, foam, springs, the workmanship and the design,” says Joseph Tay, Jr., the co-owner of Casa Bella, a multi-brand furniture store that exclusively distributes top global furniture brands in the Philippines, such as Italian import Moroso.

That’s not to say that which is unseen will reveal the true value of a sofa. Just like your own spouse, you’ll have to look at that thing everyday—and so will your guests, from time to time. “Go for pieces that you will like five, 10, 20 years down the road,” Joseph advises.

Think of design as the factor that makes you fall in love with one sofa, in a sea of a hundred other sofas. It’s not superficiality. It’s a connection that hopefully leads to a long-term relationship.

Moroso. Available at Casa Bella Home and Living, Lobby, AIC Burgundy Empire Tower, ADB Avenue corner Garnet Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. (02) 470-6250, (02) 470-1089. [email protected].

Photos by Shaira Luna

Source: Northrn Living, “Take a Seat”