If there were ever a piece of furniture beckoning you to jump on it, it would be the Togo. The seating recently celebrated its 50th anniversary and has had a major resurgence in the past four years. It has been compared to a comfy pair of sweatpants because of its cozy form and how it hugs your body when you sit in it. As comforting as it is, it is also an important piece of design due to its use of innovative materials and the absence of rigid wood and steel. The piece went against bourgeois norms, embodying the political freedom of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The low-slung sofa was designed in 1973 by French artist Michel Ducaroy, the design director of the French furniture manufacturer Ligne Roset. Ducaroy found his inspiration while at the sink one morning. He was looking at an aluminum toothpaste tube and noticed it “folded back on itself like a stovepipe and closed at both ends.” So he made a sketch. His design broke away from the stiff structure of the traditional sofa. The pillow-like form has no base or frame. Instead, three different densities of polyurethane foam create the form. Layers of foam are carved and glued onto each other to create the large seat and high backrest that wraps around the sitter. Next, the foam is covered with quilted upholstery layers stitched by hand to create a wrinkled pattern that has often been compared to the appearance of a crumbled newborn baby or a shar-pei dog. In the 1970s, the Togo design became available in a range of modular sizes that could be mixed and matched.

The Togo’s production process has not changed in over five decades. Once an upholsterer starts a Togo, they must be the person to finish it, since every piece is unique. Upholstery can take four hours for fabric covers and almost six hours for leather. The chair can be found in the homes of celebrities like Lenny Kravitz and Lady Gaga, in museum collections, and in one of the homes featured in this issue.

There’s even a podcast dedicated to the Togo, called Sofa, Looking for Togo. Each episode investigates significant factors that contribute to the design’s success. When a person sits on a Togo, their joints are relieved, and they’re forced to recline ever so slightly. It has style and ergonomics. Togos range in price depending on various characteristics. The average selling price on sites like 1stDibs is $6,500, but prices have ranged from $913 to $45,300. If you prefer your Togo new, they start at $7,300.