Hasta La Ideas

Milan 2014: what started as a conversation between Swedish furniture brand Offecct and Milan-based Fattorini+Rizzini+Partners at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in 2013 has come full circle with the launch of the MEET sofa (+ slideshow).

“Our very first meeting during Salone del Mobile in 2013 quickly turned into a fascinating philosophical discussion about what informal meetings mean, and from there Fattorini+Rizzini+Partners have carried out this project perfectly,” said Offecct design manager Anders Englund.

Design studio Fattorini+Rizzini+Partners‘ brief for MEET was for a sofa fit for different types of activity, from work and informal meetings to casual time.

“When we work on projects aimed at the environment between office and residential space, we always want to see and feel how this product will actually work in a space so it can be of full service to the people who will use it,” said chief designer Robin Rizzini.

“We wanted to create a sofa that gives you the feeling of being virtually anywhere,” he continued. “Offecct’s new sofa system MEET is designed for this purpose. Its functions address Offecct’s main areas: the sustainability and sound absorbing qualities of their products, the importance of injecting life through plants in indoor environments and Offecct’s craftsmanship in working with wood and fabrics.”

MEET was shown on the Offecct stand at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile last week.

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“sound absorption” with versatility appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 2014: Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola has created a modular sofa system covered in jersey material for Italian brand Moroso (+ slideshow).

Patricia Urquiola‘s aluminium-framed sofa system for Moroso is called (love me) Tender.

The design features thin wooden legs, which appear to rest against the sides of the seats.

Longer elements hold the back rests and optional integrated side tables, in a range of heights and sizes.

“The legs that appear to have little to do with the frame are actually the pillars that can be anchored to it and grouped in multiple compositions,” said a statement from Moroso.

Standard two and three-seater sofas can be combined into different arrangements.

Flat and corner back cushions can be added or removed to encompass or separate sections.

A single exaggerated seam runs around the edges of the upright cushions, which are upholstered in wool jersey along with the seats.

The sofas are available in a range of colours with matching throw cushions.

Moroso is showing the designs at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Hall 16 Stand 22/29, in Milan until 13 April.

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for Moroso in jersey fabric appeared first on Dezeen.

This 3D-printed chaise longue by architect, designer and MIT professor Neri Oxman features 44 different composite materials inside a wooden enclosure, creating a multi-coloured recliner.

The first of two designs to be released by Neri Oxman, Gemini Alpha features a series of synthetic rubber-like nodules in various shades of magenta, yellow and orange in a swooping wooden frame.

“Gemini is about the complex and contradictory relationship between twins,” explained Oxman.

“This is mirrored in the geometrical forms of the two-part chaise and the dualities that drive their formation, such as the combination of natural and synthetic materials.”

The inside of Gemini Alpha is made up of a 3D-printed skin that uses three synthetic rubber-like plastics, combined to create 44 different composites.

This inner skin was produced on Stratasys‘ new Objet400 3D printer, which allows materials and colours to be combined simultaneously.

Each of the materials has a different rigidity and colour, and is arranged to cushion the user. The choice of shapes is also informed by their noise-cancelling properties.

“The chaise is designed to use curved surfaces that tend to reflect the sound inwards,” said Oxman. “The surface structure scatters the sound and reflects it into the 3D-printed skin that absorbs that sound, and creates a quiet and calm environment.”

The outer layer is made from a solid wood shell milled using a CNC machine at Le Laboratoire art and design centre in Paris. It follows the contours of the body, with a deep seat, back rest, and a curving head piece that immerses the user and helps block out sound.

Gemini Alpha was designed in collaboration with W. Craig Carter, professor at MIT‘s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

It is currently on display at Le Laboratoire and the second piece, Gemini Beta, will be unveiled in September.

Photography is by Michel Figuet.

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forms a multi-coloured cocoon appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch designer Martijn Rigters created this rippled sofa by forcing a long block of foam through the gap between four hot wires.

The Cutting Edge sofa by Martijn Rigters is a playful take on the methods used by design studios to prototype objects.

Hot wire foam cutting usually involves heating a thin piece of wire to cut through polystyrene quickly. In design studios, this is process is normally controlled very carefully, but Rigters wanted to make the process more random.

“This technique offered the opportunity to explore a new process and experiment with the great three dimensional potential it has,” Rigters said.

The designer created a series of unique shapes out of wire representing the seat and backrest, underside, back and front, then attached them to a wooden frame big enough for a block of polystyrene to pass through.

The wires were connected to batteries, which provided the heat necessary for the polystyrene to be cut cleanly.

Setting the wires in differing profiles to begin with would alter the overall shape of the piece, but the final form and rippling effect was controlled by how the foam was pushed through the gap in the middle.

“All movement of the user guiding the block through the machine is directly translated into a form,” explained Rigters. “This is a very intuitive way to work, because one can react to the form that is created at that exact moment.”

When completed, the couch was covered in a tough polyurea coating, making it suitable for use indoors or outdoors.

The process could be replicated on any scale, with the only limitation being the size of the foam available.

Rigter will display the piece at Spazio Rossana Orlandi during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile next month.

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from block of foam using hot wires appeared first on Dezeen.

Brazilian architect Paulo Kobylka has designed sofas with cantilevered cushions that look like long concrete slabs stacked on top of one another (+ slideshow).

Paulo Kobylka created two sofa, PK1 and PK2, which have offset cushions and bases respectively that slot together to form an L-shaped design.

Both designs are upholstered in grey canvas and are separated it into three main sections: a horizontal base and seat, plus a low vertical back.

The two sofas are arranged so the cushion of the PK2 model fits over the corner of the PK1 so they form a continuous seat.

“The two parts can be used together when jointed at their ends, coming up with an L-shaped single unit,” Kobylka explained. “The sofas received a grey canvas finishing that refers to structural parts of exposed concrete of buildings.”

“The mismatches between the pieces generate small spaces to house furnishings,” he added.

The sofa cushions are rigid enough to support a person’s weight when they sit on the overhanging sections.

Photography is by Renan Klippel.

Here’s a short description from Paulo Kobylka:

PK1 and PK2 sofa

The PK1 and PK2 sofas were designed by Brazilian architect Paulo Kobylka.

The inspiration comes from structural elements in concrete, found in architecture of buildings. The sofas are designed with simple lines, purely structural: the structure is exactly what shapes it.

As well as a suspended slab of a building, the PK1 sofa has part of its seat cantilevered. The sofas are basically assembled by three main volumes: base, seat and back. The “mismatches” between the pieces generate small spaces to house furnishings.

The two parts can be used together when jointed at their ends, coming up with an “L” shaped single unit. The sofas received a grey canvas finishing that refers to structural parts of exposed concrete of buildings.

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together like stacked concrete slabs appeared first on Dezeen.