Jennifer Aniston’s Not-so-common Sofa Costs More Than Our House!

What do Jennifer Aniston, Kanye West, and Ellen DeGeneres, have in common? Very few are aware of their fondness for a particular kind of seating option called the Polar bear sofa. Aniston has always been enamored by the Jean Royère Polar Bear sofa. Besides, it can easily be sold for hundred thousands of dollars if auctioned, as it is a genuine vintage French Sofa.

In some pictures released recently showcasing Aniston’s home in Bel Air, her Jean Royère branded Polar Bear sofa was duly given it’s mention, sitting in her living room on a light carpet. The couch has a distinct mid-century style with an all-too apparent charm of its own; but it is not for the struggling masses or something anyone can consider purchasing if within a budget, as it is priced on the very high side.

History of the Sofa

The first sofa Jean Royère ever made was a round one covered in fuzzy velvet. Its wooden interior skeleton was similar to that used for the Louis XVI sofas. What did shock the people was its unusual shape when the sofa was displayed at a French exhibition. A little while thereafter, orders for the sofas began to pour in. To begin with, Royere commissioned a two seater version designed for the French Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Helsinki office. Then, the Shah of Iran commissioned a number of the sofa pieces for the bar and dining room of his daughter’s home in Tehran. Royère was 29 years old when he started his furniture-making career. His designs were on a smaller scale when compared to those of other industrial designers. According to expert designers, the furniture pieces have a simple straight-forward allure. Catroux, a French furniture designer, who first saw the pieces in the 1960s and re-discovered them a few years back, when they re-surfaced in the market, mentions that the pieces were, beautiful, unusual and rare. According to him, everybody sitting on them, looks elegant.

Cost of the Royere Sofa

The price is certainly a dampener as a regular Jean Royère sofa can fetch prices in the range of $754,000. The sofa has multiple names, as it is being commonly called the ‘Boule sofa’ and ‘Ours Polaire’  by some fans. Those names come up several time in the news news, several times, being a piece of furniture owned by many celebrities. Ellen DeGeneres has never tried to hide the fact that she has always been a big fan of the Jean Royère sofa. Kanye West is also reportedly to have stated at some interview that this sofa is undoubtedly his favorite furniture piece.

Jean Royère is said to have created the furniture pieces in the 1940’s, but its popularity was re-ignited in the early 2000’s. Sources report that only 150 such sofas were ever crafted and could easily attract hundreds of dollars at auctions. In 2016, some of them were auctioned off at prices ranging between $358,000 and $754,000. Quite extravagant and certainly a whole bunch of money as the price of each sofa, costs more than an average American home. Actually with $358,000, one could secure three Tesla Roadsters and one can conveniently repay regular student loan debts of about 44 graduates, with $754,000.