All Dressed Up

It’s award season, a time to get gussied-up in your finest upholstery.

Here is our best-dressed list: 

Under cover

The F-A-B chair by Stockholm-based studio Farg & Blanche definitely lives up to its acronym.

Its thin, discreet design has the hanger-like qualities of a runway-model, making it the perfect mannequin for the upholstered dresses that were created for it. 

This ‘paper doll’ system makes for a rapid and seamless ‘day-to-night’ transition, the home-décor equivalent of a dash of black eyeliner and a couple extra drops of No 5 for the more subtle choices, all the way to a fully sequined dress and loud lipstick for the more daring options.

How we roll

Slightly more naked when undressed, Noe Duchaufour Lawrance’s latest chair for  Petites Fritures, the ‘Market’, is a bare frame with a slatted cover draped over it.

The ‘Market’s structure is stackable without the cover, which means the latter is left free to lie on the beach, or make giant maki rolls with. 

All Wrapped up

The ‘Kiru’, by Giopato+Coombes for Living Divani, has all the careful folding of a Kimono. Makes sense, as its name is derived from the Japanese verb ‘to wear’.

Its continuously smiling, bottom-heavy seat and puckered dimples give the ‘Kiru’ the presence of a happy Buddha; a good place to sit cross-legged and drink chai. 

Cozy Cloak 

Nicely draped under a thick wool cover, the ‘Cape’ sofa by Konstantin Grcic for Established and Sons has a bit of a slumber-party-superhero vibe. Add popcorn, a tween adventure movie and Spiderman-pajamas for the perfect night in.

A Little Negligee 

A little innocent and a little scandalous, Flos’ ‘Rosy Angelis’ by Philippe Starck sports one short and transparent flouncy skirt, exposing its gracefully thin pins.

Straight laced

Nika Zupanc’s ‘Modesty’ sofa is all business in front, with a little bit of boudoir in the back…   

by Claire Toussaint

Alternative Upholstery

Beyond fiber and down, here is a series of furniture pieces where designers tried to think differently about upholstery…

Tokujin Yoshioka uses fabric in a completely different way to create a flower-like effect for the ‘Bouquet’ chair. The upholstery of hand sewn fabric ‘petals’ becomes the cushion rather than covering one.

What Hans Bellmer did to his girlfriend Unica Zurn (see below), Meike Harde is doing to foam mats, creating a not only aesthetically interesting but functional pieces with integrated storage.

'Tenir au Frais' by Hans Bellmer

Somewhere between Christo and a spider, the Thread-wrapping-machine designed by Anton Alvarez envelops pieces of furniture in colorful thread, replacing nails and screws to hold it together, with surprising results.

A close cousin of knit-bombing, this crochet method is an interesting way to dress up some of the less padded furniture options. Le Corbusier’s LC4 has never looked so cozy.

Why separate pillows from the sofa when the whole composition could be covered in a single slip-cover?

 

Who says sofas should be filled with either foam or down? Certainly not Ola Giertz, who decided to fill transparent poufs with hair. Modern take on old-timey mattresses? Quite a novel eco-friendly idea, although I’m not sure it passes CA 117.

By Claire Toussaint