I bought Thuma bed frame in 2020, and after two moves, I was wowed by its Japanese joinery simplicity. It's dead simple to take apart and reassemble, not to mention it's solid wood, looks amazing, and is incredibly sturdy. So naturally, when Thuma announced a sofa line, I was intrigued. The same simplicity and elegance that made its bed frames so popular has been brought over.
You'll want to make sure you have a good amount of space to work with before setup, because this island sectional comes in a lot of big boxes. Make sure you clear your old couch away before you start. The wooden bases (available in four finishes) come preassembled. Set them down in the orientation you want, then plonk the preassembled seat unit on top. That's it! The setup experience took maybe 15 minutes; honestly, I spent far more time unboxing everything and getting rid of the boxes.
Thuma provides a clip that goes over the base units to keep them together. At first I expected this joining process to create a wobbly seat experience—how can a few clips keep these modular couch pieces together? Turns out, they do their job remarkably well. After more than three months of use, the whole sofa still feels like it's one integrated piece. Despite being held together by mere clips at the base, you don't feel that the sofa comprises several modular seats. The whole thing stays put, too—my wife and I have hopped on the sofa at varying degrees of speed and force over the last few months, and the Essential hasn't budged.
The seat is firm but comfy—it retains its shape really well. The performance textured weave doesn't feel abrasive against skin, and despite my dog's best efforts, it doesn't fray easily. My only nitpick is that I wish Thuma offered more color options. The Mocha I have is fine, but your other options (Carbon, Natural, and Ivory) are all quite neutral palettes. We don't have to go crazy! A nice dark olive green or royal navy would go a long way in at least offering options for people looking to get away from Millennial Gray (I say this as a millennial).
I suggest accessorizing with several throw pillows and blankets to liven the couch up a bit, which also helps when you want to snooze. The CertiPUR-US certified foam feels supportive, and I've caught my wife napping multiple times. It's not really a soft, cushy seat though. If that's what you're after, look at Thuma's Signature line. You also don't need to buy the Essential in the configuration I have—Thuma has several options listed here—and you can add more seat modules down the road if you move to a bigger place. (This entire system is very easy to take apart for when you do need to move, though the pieces themselves are quite large and require two people to carry.)
While I haven't had to readjust the seats or anything like that, I have noticed that the left seat is the only one where I need to “tuck in” the fabric every so often, as it can otherwise bunch up. I suspect this is because it's the most used seat of them all. While I haven't washed the seat covers yet, it's nice to know that you can machine wash them in cold water (hang to dry); the slipcovers are attached to the frame via self-adhesive strips.
All in all, I'm quite happy with the Thuma Essential Sofa, and like my bed frame, I can see it lasting for a long, long time. —Julian Chokkattu