Archives

Red Dot: Sofas & Loungers

“Despite the poor current economic situation, more companies than ever before have taken part in this year's Red Dot Award: Product Design. This proves that these companies value and exploit the economic potential of good design for their place on the global market”, said Professor Dr Peter Zec, the initiator of the Red Dot Design Award. The award is not only regarded as the barometer for future design directions and trends, it is also a trailblazer for the commercial implementation of ideas, because receiving a red dot puts a design concept into the industry’s centre of interest.

The following is a selection of sofas and loungers that are set to be our centre of interest in 2009/10:

Best Of The Best

Confluences Sofa

Ligne Roset / Roset SA, Briord, France
Design: Philippe Nigro, Milan, Italy

The principle of rearranging individual parts is perfectly embodied by the Confluences sofa: its parts can be rearranged again and again to form something entirely new. In this way, a number of seats can be brought close and locked together.

Honourable Mention

Pogee

Don Corleone Lounge Sofa
Bretz Wohnträume GmbH, Gensingen, Germany
In-house design: Bretz Brothers

Elaborate seaming art with ornamental stripes worked into felled seams is a striking design detail. Integrated drawing-ins in the seat, arm- and backrests create a play of light and shadow emphasising a smooth inviting look.

Honourable Mention

Tiziana Sofa

Bretz Wohnträume GmbH,
Gensingen, Germany
In-house design: Eva Schröter

Fine sewing art in form of artisan button tufting and invisible sewing underlines the extravagant style of the Tiziana sofa.

Other Award

Blofield

Blofield, De Meern, Netherlands
In-house design: Jeroen van de Kant

Blofield is an air-filled inflatable sofa that retains the look and properties of an authentic Chesterfield. By using a durable and weatherproof material this sofa offers a variety of options. Blofield is delivered in a trolley bag and with an electrical pump. At the bottom side the sofa features a protective nylon coating to assure long-term outdoor use.

Best Of The Best

MYchair Lounge Chair
Walter Knoll AG & Co KG

Herrenberg, Germany
Design: UNStudio, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Ben van Berkel

What is interesting about this chair is how it plays with angles and our viewing habits: slanting, rounded and straight areas give way to each other, while the upholstery too traces and alternates between convex and concave shapes.

Honourable Mention

Qubit Sofa

Intertime AG, Endingen, Switzerland
Design: zed., Zürich, Switzerland (Matthias Weber)

With only three elements the most different combinations can be arranged. In conjunction with a long stool this sofa transforms into a daybed.

Other Award

4U Seating Unit

Nurus AS, Istanbul, Turkey
Design: Artful, Ankara,
Turkey (Ece Yalim, Oguz Yalim)

It also offers people a casual way to sit like back to back, face to face, or sometimes side by side, thanks to its backrests forming “seating cells” in variable dimensions. The backrest is height-adjustable.

Other Award

Dondola Seating Programme

Megaron, Izmir, Turkey
Design: Defne Koz Design Studio, Chicago, USA

This seating programme includes benches, rocking seats, and lounge chairs. An interesting aspect is the soft appearance of the metal achieved by folding it to gentle curves. It thus develops seamless volumes with no parting lines and no visible welding seams.