Sofa.com Introduces a New Collection Inspired by Modern Renaissance

Continuing to expand on its contemporary design offering, sofa.com is delighted to introduce its AW22 collection to a trade audience.

Comprising of four new designs across upholstered seating catering for a range of design specifications across commercial and residential projects. The collection includes the new hero range, Tiffany, a vintage-inspired armchair, Shelby, and two new stylish dining chairs, Lola and Piper all available in 75+ fabric options as well as COM to create bespoke options to allow designers breadth of choice.

Inspired by modern renaissance design - a trend which integrates contemporary shapes with classic detailing to bring together refreshing pieces with a sense of refinement, glamour and a touch of charm from the Art Deco era - each piece incorporates an element of pleated stitching which unites the new look across the collection.

Also including expansions upon two of sofa.com’s bestselling designs, the Larsen armchair and Teddy chaise join AW22. All-time favourites in the sofa range, these pieces offer a more traditional aesthetic to cater for a variety of residential projects.

The new colour palette for the season includes velvets in warming autumnal tones – vibrant oranges, forest greens and salmon pinks - alongside a range of weaves in pared-back neutrals and subtle blues and greens. These palettes will help create differing interior styles from modern luxe to a more organic, minimalist aesthetic.

Speaking on the collection, trade development manager Laura Tarratt comments:

“Seating is at the core of this collection and we wanted to ensure each sofa, dining seat or armchair would stand alone as a beautiful, functional residential piece but also work to create a statement within restaurants, bars, office meeting room or set the scene in a hotel lobby. The continued expansion of our dining collection has proven popular with sales increasing season upon season. We also wanted to ensure we weren’t compromising on comfort or style, and have focussed on ensuring optimal dimensions and fillings to create the ultimate design combination of ergonomically sound and elegant. Boasting over 75 fabrics and the option to upholster all pieces in COM, our in-house team can fulfil any project brief becoming a one-stop shop for our growing interior designer clientele base.”

Handmade-to-order in just 4-6 weeks – now available online and in store.

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PwC, a renowned professional services provider, has made a significant investment in the city of Belfast by relocating its offices to Merchant Square. The move to the city centre comes from a desire to not only support the growth of the company, but to signal its confidence in the area and encourage other businesses to take a similar initiative.

The new workplace is spread across 200,000 sq ft over nine floors and provides the regional hub for around 3,000 employees. The building is an amalgamation of three existing structures with a dramatic feature staircase linking floors four, five and six. The hope is that the new office will help to increase employee numbers over the next few years, meaning the design needed to have versatility as well as longevity. To meet both of these requirements, a wide range of KI furniture was specified by the lead interior designer, BDP.

On four of the levels, KI’s Colonnade system is being used to create user-controlled, open-plan spaces which the teams can quickly customise depending on the immediate need. Each Colonnade comprises 800 Series cupboard and drawer units integrated with 800 Series Shelving. Semi-sheer Kvadrat Acoustic Drops curtains feature on each open side of the structure and divide up the space for meeting or work settings. To maximise the system’s flexibility, Colonnade Cube stools were also chosen as they can be neatly stored away within the unit’s structure. The stools are upholstered in a variety of fabrics and colours to best complement the Colonnade units.

Moveable easels hook over the overhead gantry rails at any point and these are accessorised with magnetic backed whiteboards which also store away neatly in the open shelving when they are not being used.

Two different colour schemes were specified for the Colonnade systems, one of which uses vibrant colours that echo the shipbuilding heritage of Belfast. Bright yellow powder coated easels pay homage to the nearby Harland and Wolff cranes, whilst bright blue and red powder coats emulate well-established maritime engineering colour schemes.

Annabelle Hadlow, project architect at BDP, said: “Materials and furniture specification is always important to PwC. We have a fantastic understanding of its design aspirations and how the offices reflect the cities in which they are located whilst providing functional and flexible spaces. For Merchant Square, the furniture was crucial in achieving the right, characteristic design and the right levels of adaptability across all floors.”

Throughout the office space, a variety of other KI designs provide seating and tables to support both the impromptu and more focused work practices that are required. These include Zig poseur height tables and Work2.1 Sit-Stand tables in a variety of finishes such as graphite Fenix tops on raw steel, black and yellow under-structures. These tables provide ideal settings for dropdown work and casual collaboration.

KI’s Take5 high back armchairs adorn multiple areas and are upholstered in a variety of fabrics and colours. Ruckus chairs on castors are located around collaboration tables and inside the Colonnades. The innovative design of the Ruckus is also ideal for sit-stand tables, allowing a person to either sit in the chair or perch on its backrest, depending on the height setting of the table.

Throughout the building are 800 Series personal lockers fitted with RFID wireless lock technology which can be remotely monitored and controlled by the facility management teams. Some larger versions are also located in the basement area to provide cloak and leisure storage. Other specifications of matching 800 Series cabinets, recycling units, and tambour cupboards - a PwC standard - can also be found in the back office service areas.

Expanding on the brand’s new contemporary handwriting, sofa.com has launched three new statement seating designs as part of their latest collection. Each piece is handmade-to-order in just 4-6 weeks and can be upholstered in over 75 different fabrics to perfectly suit any residential or commercial project.

The range puts a spotlight on minimalist modern shapes and sleek lines ideal for contemporary interiors design projects.

Oswald and Chester join the range as the two hero designs for the season boasting clean lines and Scandi-inspired shapes, combining elements of contemporary style with the same trusted comfort the brand is so celebrated for. Curvilinear detailing and sleek tapered legs lend a feminine, avant-garde allure to Edie creating an elegant, fashion-forward shape.

With Chester available as armchair or various sized sofa, Oswald as the all-encompassing corner option, and Edie as the cocktail chair of choice, the brand is introducing modern marvels for varying lifestyles and for the ever-evolving interiors.

Each new design is available in different fabrics and colours - from durable cottons, to lavish velvets and luxurious leathers. This ensures each hand-crafted sofa.com upholstered design is bespoke based on your own requirements, whether specifying seating for a residential, hospitality or commercial property. With the entire range also available in COM, there is no compromise necessary to create the perfect custom design.

The trade team at sofa.com is on-hand to assist with any queries – please visit www.sofa.com/trade for more information.

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What are the origins of your brand?

AkzoNobel is one of the biggest Decorative Coating companies in the world, with a rich history. Our brand, Dulux, began its origins way back in 1919. At the end of the First World War a long-established firm of varnish makers called Naylor Brothers extended its activities into paint production and moved out of central London to set up a factory in Slough on a 30 acre site.

Jumping forward to 1931 the first ‘Dulux’ alkyd-based synthetic finish was produced, based on a new formulation and the brand name ‘Dulux’ was established (a combination of ‘Durable’ and ‘Luxury’).

In 2021, we proudly celebrated our 90^th birthday!

How do you work with interior designers?

Drawing on 90yrs of experience, we help provide the tools Interior Designers require to support them in completing their projects. Distilling how colours and other materials work together, we understand that colour, in isolation, is only one part of the story. We work with the Interior Designer to carefully curate a palette of colours which tells a story, creates a desired outcome, and unlocks the potential of their project.

What value does your sector add to the interior design industry?

Our Commercial Colour Consultants are experienced in working with Contractors, Specifiers and end users. Using insights gained from these relationships, and a wealth or colour experience, our Commercial Colour Consultants can support Interior designers with their projects, across a range of sectors and working environments.

Paint has the power to pull the final design together, marrying up all elements of a space or aid as a backdrop for other elements to take centre stage. We can help you to win client confidence and underline your professionalism with brave design transformations and achieve comfortable yet functional spaces that surpass expectations.

How do your services/offering enhance an interior designer’s projects?

Working with our Commercial Colour Services team ensures that your final design serves not only to provide a beautiful place to live or work but can promote better outcomes for the people using the space, as well as helping you to deliver on the organisation’s wellbeing and sustainability goals too.

There is a vast array of building specification requirements to also be aware of and each space presents its own challenges and requirements in terms of design. Our team of expert colour consultants are on hand to support Interior Designers to meet those challenges. We support Interior Designers to deliver colour designs that optimise commercial spaces efficiently and support the occupants’ needs. We guide you through our colours & colour coding system to ensure best choice of paint colour to work with your design.

What are the latest trends you’ve noticed in your client’s requests?

Clients are looking for more and more ways to improve people’s lives. Delivering better living and working outcomes is now an everyday expectation for building owners. The effective use of colour in a building can markedly improve how occupants feel in that building. Whether the goal is to improve wayfinding in hospitals, support the visually impaired in a care home, or create a calming space conductive to learning in schools, great colour schemes can help enhance building design.

Questions answered by Martha Dunican, Commercial Colour Services Operations Manager, Dulux.

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In an increasingly competitive post-COVID, more financially cautious Interior Design market, it is important more than ever to have a USP that sets your business out from the crowd, and creates more opportunities to gain contracts based on something offered that is greater than a simulacrum of the previous project. The increasing reliance on fully bespoke work or ranges designed either for commercial roll-out or for a specific project is becoming well-trodden. Clients are increasingly knowledgeable but also demanding in terms of the quality-to-cost ratio, which as we all know can really start to eat into margins. While manufacturing in the far East or more obscure parts of Europe can certainly help to protect the profits, there is also another way, certainly not as frequently used as it might be.

Eco-friendly, Green, Renewable, Socially conscious – these are all phrases that more and more come into the planning of a build or a fit-out, and the environmentally astute designer will understand that many clients will be now building this into their considerations (though by no means all of them - to whom these concepts would be entirely alien..). One of the easiest and quickest fixes to this is to use antique, classic design, vintage and “retro” furnishings, underlining your green credentials but also opening up a world of other opportunities and ultimately, greater profitability. After all, no new materials are being used or manufactured, and items that already exist are being re-employed, repurposed and in many examples, aesthetically reconsidered and reaccommodated.

While the phraseology and terminology surrounding this concept can often sound trite and a marketing nightmare (“upcycled”, “preloved”, “retrostyle”) it is just the other side of a coin that has on the obverse “fine art”, “design” and “antique”. With over 30 years dealing in both new and old furniture and art, I would postulate that in general the quality of manufacture in particular of older furniture and design objects is considerably higher than that of today. As an additional bonus, many things were made in small or even unique numbers – equivalent to the dream phrase “Limited Edition” that is a gilt-edged chance to increase sales.

The very best classic design and antique pieces carry unique possibilities to the curious and canny Interior Designer – the layer of intangible “softness” that comes from years of patina on wood or glass for example, is almost impossible to reproduce with newer items. Who can resist a pier mirror of old mercury glass compared to a harsh modern example – it’s even more flattering in soft lighting. Finding and placing quirky, unusual or unique items opens up a world of choices, as well as adding a story to each individual item, at the higher end of the market, even remarkable provenance on occasion. These are the kind of objects that invite conversation, not just act as a backdrop or support.

With the rise of identikit interiors with a restricted palette and furniture and accessories that seem to disappear into the background, the bold and individualistic client will revel in this concept of “uniqueness” and this is most certainly a selling point for certain types of customer. The well-curated interior will speak of the owner’s intelligence, taste (if such a thing exists) and idiosyncratic approach. More often than not though, they will need some assistance with this, or certainly a collegiate approach.

Best of all for the canny client though, is the huge investment potential for their interior choices to become a sure-fire investment. The area of Fine Art is well covered and well-evidenced, but increasingly, Design and Decorative Arts are becoming (or already are!) a rich seam of capital gain. A case in point for example is the famous Jean Prouvé Chaise “Tout Bois”- a set of four in 2019 sold at Christie’s for 23,750 Euro, but in 2021 a similar set sold for 50,000 Euro – doubling the value in only two years. The joy of investments like this is that the individual items carry great value but lend themselves collectively to creating stunning and meaningful interiors.

Many Designers are cautious about introducing these elements into their schemes as they often lack the knowledge or confidence to utilise items from eras unfamiliar to them or are unsure of the market. I don’t believe that they are not employed simply because they are inappropriate. The subject is large and potentially complex, and it is absolutely possible to make errors. However, perhaps the biggest problem of all is knowing where to find these items and at the right price for the business and the client.

I would argue that there is actually huge potential to make greater margins or certainly to protect margins, by introducing a higher percentage of such items into a project, whether it is residential or hospitality. The integration of reclaimed or salvaged architectural elements is seen frequently in hospitality, and many of the very best projects in Europe and the USA at the highest level of residential are populated with exceptional examples of classic design – it must be impossible to move in California now without bumping into a Corbusier Chandigargh chair (original of course!!).

It is possible to create large margins with informed and intelligent purchasing, while also offering the client the possibility of a return on investment, something that is impossible with a bespoke site-specific sofa for example. Older pieces can even be bespoked of course, through reupholstery, readjustment and gentle intervention. Clients will be aware of the market prices of brand new standard items but won’t necessarily know the price of classic design, and in certain instances may be pleasantly surprised. There are rich pickings in the market still for undiscovered gems and unappreciated designers to become household names. The value for instance of Eames, Wegner, Juul has all absolutely rocketed as they take their place in the Pantheon (or “Premier League”) of design stars, but there are plenty who are brilliant but considered “1st Division” It's important to find new avenues for increasing profitability and a few well-sourced items will add character and interest to a project as well as increasing value to both the client and the business.

All images courtesy of Modernforms.

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Italian design is matchless, its inventiveness legendary. Signature and Tosca are the latest additions to premium bathroom retailer, C.P. Hart’s portfolio of exclusive furniture.

Sourced from inspirational makers in Tuscany, Italy and renowned for its high-quality and chic designs, Signature and Tosca are created for bathrooms of all sizes.

Signature Bathroom Furniture

Carefully selected by C.P. Hart, Signature is a highly versatile range, making it the perfect storage solution for both large and small bathrooms. The collection of clean-lined and contemporary wall-hung vanity units and wall cabinets come in various shapes, allowing you to configure your bathroom furniture to optimise space.

The Signature range is crafted with exceptional attention to detail. Vanity drawers are internally painted in Anthracite Gray and come equipped with soft-close and push-pull mechanisms, accessible through recessed handles that are subtle yet practical, offering a comfortable and secure grip.

Cabinet tops and finishes are available in natural and timeless shades, including glossy and matt lacquers and wood finishes. A range of stunning marble stoneware tops with integrated basins or countertop ceramic basins are also included in the collection.

The Signature range offers a selection of sleek LED mirrors and towel holders to complement the furniture, all available to purchase from C.P. Hart.

Tosca Bathroom Furniture

The Tosca range, designed by Italian architectural designer Enzo Berti and hand-picked by C.P. Hart, breathes its classical heritage in a thoroughly contemporary way. The collection showcases a statement display of modular wall-hung and floor-standing vanity units, cabinets, and benches, available in various sizes allowing you to configure your optimal bathroom set-up.

The units feature simple, elegant lines enhanced by an Anthracite Grey frame and spacious, soft-close drawers. The front panels and tops can be crafted from wood or stone for a natural textured effect, or they can be lacquered or made of glass for a sophisticated feel. Please speak to a C.P. Hart sales consultant to discover the breadth of finishes available.

The Tosca range comes with washbasin options for maximum customisation, including blown glass countertop designs, integrated basins, undermounted or countertop solutions, and freestanding designs for an eye-catching and highly individual result.

“The use of age-old Tuscan materials, such as traditional terracotta, blown glass, and marble, introduces a timeless appeal to these collections, while the natural colour palette adds softness to minimalist design.”
Yousef Mansuri, C.P. Hart director of design.

Signature and Tosca are currently displayed in C.P. Hart’s flagship Waterloo showroom.

Visit A C.P. Hart Showroom here.

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Lorenzo Tondelli Collection have brought on stage six ambiences, retracing the history of the brand and integrating the first bestsellers mixed with the latest Hyperborea series.

The tour begins with Umami: the 100% customisable kitchen produced by Lorenzo Tondelli in every detail, from the cabinets to the handles and hinges, from the drawers storing cutlery and plates to the wine cellar for preserving refined wines. The leathers are stain and water-repellent and every aspect from aesthetics to the layout can be customised step by step with the customer.

We then proceed to the TV area. The screen is installed on the Argema console. Guests can sit comfortably on the curved Hula Hoop sofa upholstered in silk velvet, on the iconic Dune or on the Ulla rotating armchair.

The display continues with the living room dedicated to Kela: a family of bestselling seats consisting of sofa, chaise longue and armchair.

The scene is illuminated by the Carapace lamp, featuring a cast bronze reproduction of a tortoise shell. Next to the sofa the Ebe glass lamp stands with its sculptural dome.

The reading area is characterised by red silk boiserie and hosts a setting of pieces from the Hyperborea series including the Levare coffee table, the linear Hula Hoop sofa accompanied by its pouf, the Aura lamp that reproduces a chiaroscuro effect on the walls reminiscent of the aurora borealis. The specular bookcases, Alda, hold precious volumes.

In the study-office area we find the Pico desk, upholstered entirely in leather with legs in bronze in silver finishing. The top is equipped with a convenient socket compartment. A leather-upholstered drawer completes the desk. The chairs in the setting are Maua upholstered in orange leather in the version with and without armrests.

The conversation area is centred on the Nirmal sofa, here arranged in a corner version and equipped with a chaise longue and customised engraved bronze armrest. Nirmal is a modular sofa: the customer can compose the desired arrangement to suit the space.

"On the occasion of Design Week - explains brand CEO Lorenzo Tondelli - our aim was to allow visitors to immerse themselves and walk through the history of our Collection.

The idea was to show how our bestsellers created in the early years of the Collection and the ultimate Hyperborea series have a timeless taste and can be combined together in a fluid and elegant way.

One of our strengths is the work that has been done over the years to give aesthetic continuity to the products, eschewing passing fashions, and designing furniture that lasts in terms of quality and taste.”

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Arteriors core collection of luxury furniture, lighting, wall décor and accessories incorporates products from a number of design aesthetics. A key trend that remains popular with interior designer customers for trade and residential projects alike is a tendency towards pieces that will help create and complement a monochrome scheme.

A timeless palette, monochrome décor palettes can highlight the art of duality, with each product created as a statement piece in its own right but with elements that allow it to co-exist and complement additional items within a room. This is a collection of items that are intended to work alongside one another and unify the space.

Bright white and pale cream tones pair with varying tones of greys and black as the core colour theme, where texture and tactility take centre stage - drawing the focus away from colour towards the materials used to create depth and interest in the room’s design. Tactile materials such as soft plush boucle, and luxurious velvets work particularly well to soften a monochrome space.

Visual interest can be added through the use of graphic, geometric lines whether seen in the design of Arteriors’ products or in additions such as wallpaper and rugs. By combining strong accents with soft, textured fabrics, marble detailing and rounded edges, a scheme can transform from feeling cold and stark to warm and inviting.

This collection from Arteriors creates a sense of understated glamour, with all focus placed on the expertise of design. The variety of items seamlessly blend in with one another and transcend seasonal trends layering perfectly into multiple settings and styles.

Arteriors’ exclusive collection is available to view online or at the UK showroom at the Design Centre Chelsea Harbour.

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