To our friends and customers,
After more than a year in development, we’re very excited to introduce our first upholstered piece: the Rolled Arm Sofa.
I’ve always loved the rolled arm because it’s elegant and comfortable. When done right, its low arms allow your shoulders to relax, its curved back offers a little lumbar support, and proud cushions call you to sit down.
The rolled arm’s lineage runs through Howard & Sons, the nineteenth-century London upholstery house whose work helped define the English tradition of deeply comfortable, structurally sophisticated seating. In 1866, George Howard patented the “Elastic Seat,” an early recognition that comfort begins with structure.
Since then, the rolled arm has become part of American living – in libraries, hotels, parlors, and homes across the country. But in the last 50 years, designs have drifted away from the classic. They’ve become deeper, flatter, bulkier, and filled with polyurethane foam.
At Roseland, we wanted to recover the proportions and materials that gave the original sofa its enduring appeal. We designed the sofa with particular focus on the delicate, tapering curves of the arm, mirrored those lines with the base of the sofa, and restored posture to the back. We partnered with Vanguard Furniture in North Carolina to develop a handmade solid-maple frame with white oak or walnut legs, eight-way hand-tied springs, burlap seat deck, and wool trim padding. The cushions combine 95:5 traceable American feather and down with three-inch organic latex cores, giving them softness, loft, and resilience without chemical fill. When you sit on the sofa, you slowly sink into it, and when you get up, you’ll leave behind a faint impression of your bottom.
For fabrics, we’re intentionally starting small. The sofa is available in a cream cotton twill woven in America, or it can be upholstered in a textile of your choosing through our Customer’s Own Material program.
The Rolled Arm Sofa is available now in 84-inch and 96-inch lengths. It will start shipping in September. An armchair and loveseat will follow this fall.
You’ll find photos below. We’re very proud of this one, and grateful for your continued support of Roseland.
Best,
Clare de Boer, Owner
P.S. We’ve opened a small office at 255 Canal Street in Manhattan, where most of our pieces, including the sofa, are available to sit on and see (2nd picture below). To arrange a visit, simply reply to this email and we’ll set up an appointment. Looking forward to having you in.
