Furniture is a material instrument essential for human beings to maintain daily life, engage in production practice and carry out social activities. The history of furniture can be said to be as long as the history of mankind, it is with the progress of society and the continuous development, reflecting the life of mankind in different eras and productivity levels, integration of science, technology, materials, culture and art in one. Furniture is not only a kind of practical function, but also a kind of artwork with rich cultural forms. Over the past thousands of years, the design of furniture and architecture, sculpture, painting and other plastic arts form and style development synchronization, become an important part of human culture and art. Therefore, the development process of furniture not only reflects the development of mankind in the material civilization, but also shows the progress of human spiritual civilization.
From the ancient Egyptian dynasty of more than 4,000 years B.C. to the 19th century before the industrial revolution in Europe, the history of furniture is actually the history of wood. Over the centuries, the East and the West have been in the category of wood furniture has been improving the shape of the furniture and technology, and gradually evolved into a kind of carved handicrafts, excessive pursuit of decoration, weakening the furniture as a living appliance necessary for the function. Until the 19th century, after the industrial revolution in Europe, the development of furniture has entered the industrialization of the development track, under the guidance of modern design thinking, according to the "people-oriented" design principles, abandoned the luxury of carving, refined the abstract shape, the end of the history of wood craftsmanship, into the era of machine production. Modern furniture on the basis of the industrial revolution, through the progress of science and technology and the invention of new materials and new technologies, widely absorbed anthropology, sociology, philosophy, aesthetics, closely follow the social progress and cultural and artistic development of the footsteps of the connotation of the furniture and the extension of the space is constantly expanding, the function of the furniture is more diversified, the shape of the ever-changing, more and more perfect, and become a material apparatus and cultural form to create and lead the new way of life and work of mankind. Work way of creating and leading a new way of life and work of mankind's material appliances and cultural forms.
Furniture in the contemporary has been given the most extensive modern definition - furniture: furniture, funishing, from the French founiture and Latin mobilis, that is, furniture, equipment, movable devices, furnishings, clothing and other meanings. With the progress of society and human development, the design of modern furniture covers almost all environmental products, urban facilities, family space, public **** space and industrial products. Due to the progress of civilization and technology, the connotation of modern furniture design is never-ending. Furniture has evolved from the age of wood to the age of metal, the age of plastics, the age of ecology, from architecture to the environment, from indoors to outdoors, from the family to the city, the design and manufacture of modern furniture are all designed and manufactured to satisfy people's ever-changing needs for functionality and to create a better, more comfortable and healthier way of living, working, entertaining and relaxing. Human society and lifestyle is constantly changing, new furniture forms will continue to produce, the creation of furniture design is unlimited vitality.