35 Years of Making Comfort Better.
We didn't set out to build a furniture company that looked like everyone else's.
We started by asking whether something as familiar as a bean bag could simply be more comfortable. One idea led to another, and three-and-a-half decades later, we're still asking the same kind of questions.
Different products. More rooms. The same pursuit of better comfort.
It Started With a Better Seat.
Before Big Joe®, there was an uncomfortable bean bag, some foam mattress pads and a simple question:
Could this be better?
Comfort Research founders Matt Jung and Chip George started experimenting with shredded foam while they were students at Hope College in West Michigan. What came out of that experiment was the Fuf®—a completely different kind of lounge seat and the beginning of everything that followed.
It wasn't about making a fancier bean bag.
It was about making comfort better.
We Never Really Sat Still.
The Fuf® may have started the story, but comfort never felt like a one-product idea.
Over the years, we kept taking what we learned about materials, filling, flexibility and relaxation into entirely new spaces.
First, We Rethought the Bean Bag.
Shredded foam created an entirely different way to lounge—soft, flexible and made for settling in.
The Fuf® became the product that put our comfort-first way of thinking into motion.
Then Comfort Hit the Water.
Relaxation shouldn't end at the edge of the pool.
Products like the Lux Sealander® took Big Joe's comfort-first mentality outside, blending laid-back lounging with materials designed for poolside living.
Big Joe currently merchandises the Lux Sealander as a pool lounger and ottoman within its outdoor assortment.
Then We Made the Patio More Comfortable.
Solvana™ brought the feeling of indoor lounge seating outside.
Deep comfort, modular flexibility and a sculptural, frame-free design helped redefine what Big Joe could look and feel like beyond the walls of the home.
Now We're Bringing It All Home.
Averra™ represents the next chapter: comfortable, thoughtfully designed furniture made for the center of everyday life.
Modular sectionals, deep seating and flexible pieces take everything we've learned about relaxed comfort and give it a more permanent place in the home.
We're Still Big Joe. We've Just Got More Places to Sit.
Bean bags are part of our DNA. They always will be. But 35 years of thinking about comfort has taken us well beyond where we started.
Today, Big Joe is creating furniture for the whole home—from the casual seats we're known for to lounge chairs, loveseats, modular sectionals, patio furniture and poolside favorites.
Different rooms.
Different materials.
Same obsession with comfort.
Meet Comfort Research.
Big Joe® was created by Comfort Research, LLC, the West Michigan company that has spent 35 years exploring better ways to make people comfortable.
From an early experiment with shredded foam to today's indoor, outdoor and aquatic products, the company has grown by challenging familiar ideas about how seating should be made, delivered and enjoyed. Comfort Research describes its business today across indoor, outdoor and aquatic consumer products.
Big Joe is where that thinking meets everyday life.
Designed around comfort. Made to be lived in.
A Lot Has Changed.
Our Priorities Haven't.
Comfort Comes First.
A chair, sectional or float has one job before anything else: make you want to stay awhile.
Made for Real Life.
Spaces change. Families change. Plans change. We design furniture that can keep up.
Innovation With a Point.
We explore new materials and construction methods when they create a genuinely better experience—not simply because they're new.
Never Too Serious.
Good design can still be comfortable, approachable and fun. We'd rather make furniture you enjoy living with than furniture you're afraid to touch.
Made for Real Life.
Spaces change. Families change. Plans change. We design furniture that can keep up.
Innovation With a Point.
We explore new materials and construction methods when they create a genuinely better experience—not simply because they're new.
Never Too Serious.
Good design can still be comfortable, approachable and fun. We'd rather make furniture you enjoy living with than furniture you're afraid to touch.
Born in West Michigan.
Big Joe's story began with two college students and one uncomfortable bean bag.
Thirty-five years later, Comfort Research still calls West Michigan home—and we're still asking many of the same questions that started everything:
- Why does it have to be made that way?
- Could it be easier?
- Could it feel better?
The products have changed. The curiosity hasn't.
Curl Up
Stretch Out
Float On
Whatever Comfort Looks Like to You, Make Yourself at Home.
After 35 years, we've learned there isn't one right way to relax—and there shouldn't be one kind of seat for doing it.
Wherever you land, make it comfortable.