Comfort is the primary goal of the entire Stressless line. Since 1971, when they first introduced themselves to the world, Ekornes has been interested in bringing the world's most comfortable seating experience to a wider and wider audience.

Ekornes is a Norwegian furniture company that specializes in the Stressless Chair series of recliners and couches, and that focuses on comfort, support and style above all else. They feature three main lines of furnishings, all of which are organized into separate manufacturing facilities and production teams; Stressless Chairs, which focus on the Stressless Recliner and all of the many variations on the Stressless Recliner the company produces, Svane, which is involved in making mattresses, and just plain Ekornes, which focuses on making the Stressless Sofa, based on the design and comfort/support concepts featured in the Ekornes Stressless Chair.

The Ekornes company was founded in 1934 by Jens Ekornes. At that time, the company was involved only in making mattress and chair parts, specifically springs. It was the Ekornes company that came up with the idea of interlinked-steel springs joined together within a mattress, which provided the user with a higher level of comfort and even support. From the very beginning, the main thing Ekornes was interested in doing was making people comfortable and supported, and the tools they used have hardly changed either; then as now, advances in ergonomic science, new technologies aided by expert engineering, and a sense of innovative design have informed and shaped all the products the Ekornes company makes and has made in the past. As the springs idea took root and began to spread itself throughout Europe, Jens took a very bold step.

Not satisfied to rest on his laurels and merely ride out a single wave of innovation to a lucrative conclusion, he left his brothers in charge of the business and moved to America, where he got a job working in a mattress factory. It was important to Jens to be on the front line of the process, to understand everything that goes into making a mattress, and it was equally important to learn those skills and research those ideas in the most advanced factory system in the world, that of the United States. It takes a lot for a man to leave the company he founded and move halfway across the globe just to work a menial job in a factory, but Jens Ekornes and the company he founded were made of stern stuff. When Jens returned to Norway, ready to move his company forward, he brought with him American made machinery and American advisers to help him make his company all that it could be. The seeds for the revolutionary Stressless Chair were being planted as early as this, in 1946, when the company risked it all to produce the best possible product, the most comfortable and supportive spring they could possibly make. No stone was left unturned and no idea was dismissed out of hand; here was a company willing to literally go to the mattresses for quality, inspiration and the perfection of process and design.

For the next 20 years, the Ekornes brand grew and grew. In Norway, it's home base, it became a household name. Across the rest of Europe it's high quality and attractive design made it a top dollar manufacturer. It was not until 1966 however that Ekornes would begin to become the furniture giant it is today; that is when they released their first lounge furniture. To announce their new products, the sent mailing to every household in the entire country of Norway, advertising that reached every man woman and child within the Norwegian border. To this day, every year the entirety of Norway receives a catalog detailing everything new (and everything classic) in the Ekornes world. From then on, it was a rocket ride to success, highlighted by the 1971 debut of the greatest recliner on earth; the Ekornes Stressless Chair.

The debut of the Stressless Chair changed everything for Ekornes, which went from a local and somewhat continental brand to an international furniture powerhouse. It was the Stressless Chair that allowed the company to expand dramatically, escalating production, investment, space and staff at an unprecedented rate. Soon the Stressless Chair took Ekornes to the very top of the international furniture market, and the chair itself took the world by storm; it was the most comfortable and supportive chair available, and it complemented all it's technical and design genius with a simple, elegant, luxurious style that attracted new customers otherwise unmoved by the chair's excellence.

Now approaching their 40th anniversary, the Stressless Chairs are still going strong on the international market. They've become a symbol of modern furniture, a melding of classical concern with the body and with comfort, married to a reserved and attractive stylization. The materials used in the chair are as rich and elegant as the chair itself; leather, polished metals, fine wood accents; the chair is put together with all the care reserved for fine watches, built with all the pride and vigor of a company that would leave everything to work in a factory for a few years, learning the roots of their trade. The international market is immeasurably richer for the addition of the Stressless Chair to it's confines, and Ekornes has much to be proud of when it comes to this alluring line of chairs.

The next several decades of Ekornes passed in steady, peaceful growth. The worked on the Stressless Chair, perfecting the engineering and varying their look and style; making them the must-have items they are today. The expanded their base and their manufacturing capacity; they built the company into a paragon of international manufacturing and sale. At present, Ekornes is one of the largest and most influential design companies in the world, and their furniture is enjoyed and celebrated in every corner of the globe. Not bad for a little company that started out manufacturing mattress springs, and not bad for a lone business man with little more than a great idea married to great drive and personal ambition to produce the very best, and accept no substitutes.

Smart Furniture is proud to offer the best in international leisure furniture; we're proud to offer our customer the Ekornes Stressless Chair, Stressless Sofa, and the whole gamut of Stressless Chair products.

Introduced in 1971, the Ekornes Stressless Recliner has been the industry gold standard for almost 40 years. From it's first introduction, no recliner anywhere in the world has been able to offer the same level of total comfort, total support, and total freedom of movement that the Stressless Recliner has to offer. The design is seamless and invisible; except for the patented glide system, operated with a small wheel adjustment on the side of the chair, all of the exquisite engineering involved in making the Stressless Recliner work is hidden within the exquisite leather exterior that makes it so stylish, so comfortable, so welcoming and attractive.

Ekornes is a Norwegian company, and the very first Ekornes Stressless Chairs were made and sold there. Immediately, they became something of a sensation. They were the first chair built specifically to be TV-oriented, as well as comfortable and adaptable. It was one of the first recliners that could be oriented however the user chose; reclined for naps, swiveled to reach coffee tables and books, easily adjusted for optimum comfort and viewing/reading/sitting ease. Over the decades since the debut of the very first Ekornes Stressless Chair, there have been several improvements, embellishments and additions, but the original is still breathtaking in it's simplicity, elegance, and cachet as the pioneer of the modern recliner movement in home furnishing.

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So what makes the Stressless Recliner so comfortable? First and foremost, balance. The chair is perfectly balanced at all times, no matter your position, body type, or weight. It's built on the revolutionary Stressless Glide system, an elegant device that allows the chair to maintain balance and you to maintain your optimum levels of comfort and support. With the Glide system, Ekornes has produced a mechanism who's function is to make you feel as if you're floating on air. The Glide system can be adjusted as well, so for different types of folks, different types of recline and support. The Stressless Chair wasn't built to be one size fits all in the rigid sense, but in the fluid sense; it's a chair that intuitively and automatically adjusts to make you more comfortable, no matter who you are or how you sit. The freedom of the chair is one of it's most attractive design virtues. The fine people at Ekornes will stop at nothing to make sure the chair you buy and take home to use will be perfect for you. Aside from their ingenious work with the engineering and design of the chair, they've also broken it down into sizes and specific components, so that you can tailor the product to your exact specifications. One of the early and extremely successful initiatives the Ekornes Stressless Recliner people enacted was the Comfort Test; an easy, step by step process for choosing the perfect Stressless Chair for you and your needs. The chair comes in three sizes (Large, Medium, and Small), with ottomans that glide and adjust, and adjustable headrest, the Glide system, the Plus system (which keeps your body and back supported in the lumbar region) and several other variations that can maximize your comfort to the nth degree. The Ekornes Stressless Chair is perfect for you because Ekornes has made sure that you are one of the chair's primary designers; as the owner, you have a very large amount of control over every minute adjustment and detail in the chair, so that you're assured of having the ultimate recliner experience in the world's ultimate recliner.

Aside from just comfort, there are many other reasons to trust and own the Ekornes Stressless Chair. One of them is, of course, the company itself. Ekornes is a company on a mission to make the most comfortable recliner in the world. They've succeeded because of their ingenuity, their technical expertise, and their stylish execution. Ekornes has taken the conventional roadmap of the standard recliner and improved upon it immeasurably, while at the same time keeping much of what makes the recliner a comforting staple of the living room and the den. Like the Eames Lounge Chair, the Ekornes Stressless Recliner is composed of leather wrapped in a wooden shell, and the soft, supple material is the ultimate complement to the chair. Also like the ELC, the Ekornes Stressless Recliner combines modernism and the comfort of the classic and the familiar; the leather ensconced within the wood finish is like a well worn baseball glove; it calls to mind not only comfort and pliability, but also a restful state of mind. The whole point of the super comfortable, super supportive, super soft recliner is the relief of physical and mental stress on the body and on the mind. The Stressless Chair is, of course, just what it claims to be; a stressless environment in which you feel comfort, support, and relief. There's no better seat in the house when you're watching television, reading a book, having a conversation, or simply chilling out and relaxing after a long or stressful day. When you invest in the Ekornes Stressless Chair, you're investing in peace of mind, health of body, and a more restful and beautiful home.

When it comes time for you to make your purchase of the chair, you'll be led through a series of customization steps designed to make your chair the best it can possibly be for you. You can choose the color, the grain, the size, and other personal touches. The Ekornes Stressless Recliner is the most comfortable and one of the best designed leisure chairs in the world, but the design isn't finished until our customers get their hands on it. The chair you buy will be yours and yours alone, customized to your exact fit and your exact specifications; when you sit in it, as light and comfortable as floating on air, you'll know it's the right chair for your comfort and support needs. Smart Furniture is very proud to offer our customers the very best in international seating, and to keep bringing you the best furniture on earth.