Nugget Comfort Couch Founder - Forbes Vetted

If you've stepped into a children’s playroom in recent years, there's a good chance you've encountered the Nugget. With its vibrant, modular cushions and endless configuration possibilities, this play couch has become a favorite for kids and parents alike. Is it a sofa? A fort? A giant pillow? According to founder David Baron, it’s all of those—and more.

Though now one of the most recognizable play couches on the market, the Nugget began as a redesign ... [+] of another popular piece of furniture: the futon.

At first glance, the Nugget seems simple—it’s essentially a collection of cushions. But this set, which includes a thick base, a seat cushion and two triangular pillows, is much more than a piece of kids' furniture. It can be stacked, rearranged, and, most importantly, played on. “Every single kid is the most creative person on the planet, and all we've got to do is just not get in the way of that,” says Baron.

Nugget

Though now one of the most recognizable play couches on the market, the Nugget began as a redesign of another popular piece of furniture: the futon. While a student at the University of North Carolina, Baron noticed that these convertible beds were routinely discarded at the end of every school year. This sparked his idea to create a better version. “I designed it by focusing on what was wrong with it. They break, they're difficult to assemble and they're impossible to take apart. I traced all those issues back to the connecting pieces,” he recalls.

Baron’s initial prototype stripped the futon down to its most essential components. That’s when he realized he had created building blocks with even greater potential. “This could be an obstacle course, a puppet theater, a fort, or at the very least, the kind of couch I would have loved as a kid—without my parents saying, "Hey, that's not a toy,"' he says. “I stumbled upon a play-friendly couch, and it became immediately clear this would be the core of the business.”

Although the idea came to Baron during his student days, Nugget officially launched in 2014 after he graduated. Baron teamed up with fellow UNC alumni Ryan Cocca and Hannah Fussell, who brought marketing and educational expertise to the venture. Although Cocca and Fussell have since left, their contributions were integral to the brand’s success. “They’re ever-present in Nugget’s DNA,” says Baron.

A major challenge was finding a way to connect with both young and adult consumers. “We weren’t the first to make fun furniture, or the first to make kids’ furniture or miniature furniture,” Baron explains. “Adults needed to relate to this product, so we designed the brand to speak to adults through the lenses of style, decor and play.” This meant understanding that many parents wanted functional, aesthetically pleasing furniture that didn’t add to household clutter but did offer a variety of cover colors to suit different tastes.

“We were building a brand that was clever, curious and deeply caring,” he says. Even the name, the Nugget, reflects this playfulness. “It’s compact, endearing, bouncy—all the qualities that make it feel like more than just a piece of furniture.”

Interest in the Nugget was growing steadily, and by the end of the 2019 holiday season, the company was already on backorder. Just months later, the North Carolina-based furniture maker, like many home furnishing companies, saw an enormous surge in orders. Parents stuck at home with their kids were looking for ways to keep them entertained, and the Nugget quickly became a highly sought-after item. Baron noted a noticeable shift in how people viewed their space: “The home became a place for indoor exploration, for family time that could center around education, exercise and creativity.”

Instead of scaling up to meet the demand spike, Baron and his team chose to stick to their steady growth plan. They continued producing Nugget couches at a pace that was manageable for their production team and used their marketing channels to keep customers updated on limited releases. “We focused on traffic control, doing it as fairly and transparently as possible, always committed to Nuggeteers both inside and outside the company,” says Baron. “It certainly opened the door for copycats in an industry we had pioneered. But it also allowed us to differentiate ourselves by staying true to our human-centered approach.”

Even as Nugget has become a household name, Baron’s mission remains the same: to create minimalist toys that inspire maximum play. It’s no surprise, then, that the brand’s latest product is as versatile as the Nugget. “Just like the futon that started it all, we noticed everyone has bean bags, but nobody really likes them. There was a huge opportunity to reimagine it, but in a more Nugget-y way,” Baron explains.

Nugget

The answer, it turns out, is the Chunk. Like the Nugget, it consists of four foam pieces—a hoop, a pad and two pucks—that tuck away to form a large, round play ottoman. But unlike the Nugget, the Chunk’s design process was more intentional. Drawing on his background in biology, Baron took inspiration from nature and science, blending elements of nests, wheels, and papasan chairs.

While Chunk and the Nugget are typically bought as gifts for kids, Baron sees them as valuable for adults, too. 'This is for parents who want their kids to engage their minds and bodies while playing, who want them to express creativity without creating clutter. This piece will endure—not only because of its craftsmanship but because it’s truly ageless.'"