ABSTRACT
However, in an age where mass production, low-cost materials and image-based advertising are prevalent, comfort is now only one of a large number of considerations within the design of both furniture and buildings. If we are uncomfortable, we are far less likely to want to engage with our bodies and we therefore tend to switch off from the physical world, which can be detrimental to our mental wellbeing. Comfort also plays a vital role in helping us to relax and feel calm and safe, all of which are key to happiness. It is therefore hugely important that designers engage with creating comfortable environments. Being comfortable is an extremely important part of being happy, and this is further heightened when we spend most of our day sitting in an office chair (as many of us do) and night lying in a bed (as almost all of us do).
