In the world of interior design, banquette seating is gaining popularity in both residential and commercial settings. These benches come in different sizes, finishings, and models, and they serve as seats and containers but also as valid decorative elements.
Over the last few years, many magazines, websites, and social media profiles showcase more and more banquette seating solutions, and this is not only because they are fashionable but, above all, because they are very valid functional and decorative elements in the home.
This article will explore what a banquette is, why it is so popular with consumers, and how retailers can take advantage of the latest trends in this growing sector.
Table of Contents
What is a banquette, and why do people love it
Current trends in banquette seating
Final thoughts
What is a banquette, and why do people love it
A banquette is an element characterized by a long surface offering a seating place to one or more people. It can be upholstered or bare wood, stone, or plastic. It’s a simple yet convenient interior piece that can be positioned against a wall or integrated into a space such as the corner of a room.
Banquette seating dates back to the early twentieth century when they were a common solution in restaurants, cafes, or large European families’ living and dining rooms. The banquette (literally “bench” in French) helped homeowners and business owners optimize interior space without compromising elegance. Banquet seating come in various styles, materials, and configurations, allowing for a high level of customization: this seating can be incorporated with dining tables, used for work nooks, or even integrated into commercial spaces such as cafes, restaurants, or hotels.
The reasons behind its success
The banquette has come back in recent decades, thanks to the growing demand for multifunctional and space-saving furniture solutions. The main advantage of banquettes is their ability to create an intimate and welcoming area, which allows for the best use of available space, especially in kitchens, dining rooms, and reading nooks.
A banquette makes the most out of small spaces and corners that are usually difficult to furnish. It is also a comfortable and welcoming seat, especially when upholstered or with cushions and pillows.
Banquettes add a touch of sophistication and style to any environment and are not only suitable for kitchens or dining rooms. As we’ll see below, many consumers use them in living rooms, entryways, or even hallways as multifunctional benches to hold books or other objects, integrating function and style.
Current trends in banquette seating
The popularity of banquette seating is driving the furniture market to innovate with increasingly elegant, customizable, and multifunctional solutions. For furniture retailers, understanding and following these trends is essential to stay competitive. Here are some of the key emerging trends in the banquette industry.
Commercial solutions
Furnishing a space is not just a matter of aesthetics. Choosing the right furniture and accessories is important to communicate the values and essence of a business but also to make your offer more accessible. That’s why more showrooms and clothing boutiques choose banquettes to optimize visual merchandising and focus their customers’ attention on the products.
Banquette seating has become a key element for modern and trendy shops, and benches placed in store windows and interiors make for a minimalist design that drives sales and creates a great shopping experience.
Banquette seating in the entryway
The most common placement for banquette seating is right at the entrance of the house or apartment. Here, a comfy bench is convenient for sitting and taking off or putting on shoes more easily, but it also doubles as a surface for bags or other objects you want to leave when entering or entering the house.
Coat rack benches are a best-selling article in many online and offline furniture stores. It could be a free bench, seated in a niche, or even designed to measure based on the shape of the entrance. It is a comfortable and functional solution, especially when featuring drawers to store bags, shoes, or other objects.
In larger spaces
People lucky enough to live in big houses, usually in suburban or country areas, often choose banquette seating for many purposes.
Those who have a large window or windows that reach quite low, almost to the floor, like to exploit the lowest part by placing a wood or upholstered bench that matches the interior to create a cozy space to relax and enjoy the outside view embraced by the rays of the sun or looking at the rain while sipping a cup of coffee.
In large dining-living rooms or other open space layouts, banquette seating is used for zoning, creating a visual separation between two or more areas in the same room. It is a truly functional solution, especially when placing a bench behind the couch to visually separate it from a kitchen or a dining area. In many cases, this bench can also double as a real bench to sit additional guests or family members next to the couch or around the dining table.
A cozy nook
Of course, a banquette seat is not as comfortable as a classic chair or armchair; it does not have a back part to lean against as a free-standing piece of furniture, so it’s commonly placed against a wall. However, for the same reason, a banquette bench can create additional sitting space in areas of a room that a common chair cannot reach.
Book lovers like to use benches to organize a space to hide away and isolate themselves while reading in a comfortable seat. This special corner can almost take you into a parallel dimension.
Instead of an armchair, they go for a banquette seating option on which you can decide to pull up your feet to be more curled up. A few cushions or throw pillows, a blanket, and a cup of your favorite tea transform it into a breakfast nook and will be enough to decide that you never want to come back down to earth in every sense!
Final thoughts
The growing demand for banquette seating presents furniture retailers with many opportunities. Current trends–from custom designs to added functionality such as integrated storage–present attractive solutions for consumers increasingly looking for multifunctional and personalized spaces.
Additionally, the aesthetic appeal of banquettes provides a value proposition for retailers to capitalize on these emerging trends. Investing in a diverse selection of banquette seating options for every style and need can provide a significant competitive advantage and contribute to long-term sales success.
