Three Layer Cake - Interiors Trend: Alternative Upholstery (05/06)

Interiors Trend: Alternative Upholstery (05/06)

Friday, 19 May 2006

A break from traditional upholstery is on the horizon.
Trend tremors: Alternative Upholstery

The past year and a half has seen a growth in the number of products whose designers have chosen to distinguish their creations more by way of the finished surface than the shape of the furniture itself. The Bouroullecs presented their Facett line for Ligne Roset last year. The chair was approached first and foremost with the idea of a particular type of stitching in mind and the visual effect that such repetitive and heavy stitching would have on the final piece. In order to achieve the unique surface they envisioned, it was ultimately necessary to create a new machine capable of realizing their design.

And even as they say if you want to see what's going to be big in interiors, look at the runways, the trend in ‘stitched’ or ‘knitted’ furniture, “alternative upholstery”, continues (almost an ironic literal interpretation of interiors following fashion). Now furniture *is* fashion. Other examples of products whose designers have combined a ‘sewn’ or ‘textile’ focus to their designs to add texture and visual impact to their finished product instead of traditional upholstering include:

Prima Ballerina (left), by Reddish Studio , a table whose one leg is wrapped in thread, mimicking a spool of thread.

bilitychair

Visual Inner Structure (right), designed by Gudrun Lilja Gunnlaugsdottir of Studio Bility, which recovers old chairs with felted wool, including the springs of the seat;

chaircovervick Knitted Interiors (left), by textile designer Vicky Thompson, inlays foam while knitting the structure for tubular steel chairs;

vitraslow130 Slow Chair (right), by R & E Bouroullec Design, whose sitting structure is entirely made of a knitted layer which covers the entire structure;

antibodi130 Antibodi (left), by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso , discards traditional upholstery all together for adjustable panels which snap together.

dietchair

Diet Chair(right), by Suzumi Noda , Japanese textile designer and knitter, incorporated knitting into the surfaces of non-upholstered furniture during her workshop's exhibit at Salone Satellite. She has received renewed recognition for her style of 'upholstering': cotton tags with words on them knitted to the surface of these seats. From exhibit: Word Work: Product Value: Diet: 2002, Plus Minus Gallery, Tokyo.

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