Hasta La Ideas

One of Manhattan’s brightest contemporary clothing designers Unis recently partnered with Brooklyn’s Sit and Read Furniture for a line of home furnishings sharing the nuanced, timeless appeal of the label’s menswear.

Sit and Read’s Kyle Garner reupholsters the one-of-a-kind vintage chairs with textiles from Unis’ Spring 2010 collection, lending a familiar yet fresh update. A 19th-century walnut armchair, reincarnated in blue-and-white plaid suiting used for a trench coat, looks perfectly classic modern. Playing on the enduring color-block trend in fashion, an Eero Saarinen chair gets done up in navy and gray corduroy, while Kyle revamped a pair of Eames fiberglass shell chairs in felted green wool. “Both furniture and clothes are art forms that are meant to be used,” he said. “The interesting combination is that we’re both using these very utilitarian forms of art.”

Garner began Sit and Read a few years ago with a trove of furniture and props he acquired as a set designer, using a blog to catalog and advertise his wares. It caught the eye of the folks at Unis, who approached Sit and Read to consign some furniture and help redesign its flagship store. Keeping the label’s color palette in mind, Garner noticed spare fabrics in the studio, and the collaboration was born. “Everything that [Unis] makes pants and jackets out of is all completely suitable for upholstery,” he said.

Sit and Read also partook in the second annual Pop-Up Flea last November, with like-minded labels such as Ohio Knitting Mills and The Hill-side.

The line sells at the Unis flagship store or go to the Sit and Read blog to make showroom appointments. Prices for chairs range from $450 to $1,500.

Store photography by James Ryang