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The world’s largest sofa in Sykkylven, Norway is not just the longest sofa, but the Kindest, too.

This year, in Sykkylven, Norway, a collection of furniture makers and manufacturers have been building, not just the longest sofa in the world, but also the most environmentally-friendly one.

Seating 1500 people, the sofa is a staggering 890.25 metres in length (as verified by officials from the UK’s Guinness World Records), and is constructed entirely out of environmentally-friendly, sustainable materials. Following many years of painstaking research into the impact each of the materials used has on the environment, as well as the manufacturing process itself, the result is a sofa that, for all its larger-than-life attitude, can boast that it’s by far the kindest. Any customer purchasing one for themselves, in a more conventional size, of course, can rest easy in the knowledge that their sofa will not harm anything or anyone, and, indeed, when it reaches the end of its useful life, will be just as gentle to the environment on its disposal. The manufacturers have given it an environmental ‘A’ rating for its friendliness to the world; although the rating system is not currently internationally recognised, they hope it soon will be. The focus today is very much on manufacturing that has the least possible impact on the planet, and this sofa certainly leads the way for future ratings and standards, for other manufactures and designers to follow.


The brief to make the sofa the longest, and most environmentally-friendly, in the world, does not mean that the manufacturers and designers have skimped on style, or taken any shortcuts in comfort. The design demonstrates that a smaller version would sit comfortably and stylishly in any room setting. It has a rather understated shape which is part of its beauty – it doesn’t scream its credentials at you, rather just invites you to sit in it.

It took just 47 minutes to assemble it for its debut, on the Sykkylvsbrua Bridge, which spans the Sykkylven Fjord in Norway. It was a huge local event and thousands of visitors turned up to see the sofa, and sit in it. The event organisers are confident that the record of 890.25 metres will never be broken. That remains to be seen, of course, because records are there to be broken; what is not in doubt is that will take a dedicated and committed team to come up with something even longer, and just as environmentally-friendly – the record must surely be safe for some time to come.