Take a quick look at the media landscape and you’ll notice a flourishing new genre all about failure. There is Elizabeth Day’s How To Fail podcast. And the new book On Failure by the School of Life. But no matter which medium you choose, the message is always the same. It’s ok to make mistakes. Because, well, it might just set you on a new, more interesting course.
The poster boy for such thinking is scientist Andre Geim, whose playful “Friday Night Experiments” led to the discovery of graphene and a rather unexpected Nobel Prize.
And it’s with similar abandon that designers have begun concocting bold new forms for everyday things — a floor lamp that looks like a snow globe. Or a sofa shaped like an iceberg.
The best part about these designs is that they tend to go where other styles can’t. The VL Studio floor lamp, for example, fits perfectly well on a bookcase. While the Albero bookcase by Poltrona Frau can also serve as a bona fide room divider.
It comes back to a maxim that many a startup has used to initiate breakthroughs — what would this object look like if it was easy? Free from any idea of form or function that has tethered it in the past?
Venus vanity desk by Bonaldo, £2,280
Classics reloaded
This season, not even the classics could escape this whimsical impulse, with serendipitous new finishes being unveiled on everything from Le Corbusier’s LC6 table to Flos’s 265 wall light.
The desire seems to be less about reinvention and more an investigation into how we can make these works as fresh as possible. A process that includes updating any lacquers or padding so that we tread more lightly on the earth.
On the Rocks sofa by Edra, price on request, available at Chaplins
It’s a theme that’s been widely explored at Danish design house Fritz Hansen as it prepares to celebrate its 150th anniversary with a roster of new-look styles. Among our favourites are the Fri and Ro lounge chairs — complete with speckled new bouclé upholstery that celebrates the kaleidoscopic colours found in nature.
Stepping out out
For some brands, the edict of a brave new world mandated a change of scene, with many Danish and Italian powerhouses taking their first steps into the garden.
Rather than repeat the usual tropes, many have brought their favourite designs with them, with the option to sit among the clouds at Gubi or to cultivate a secret garden with Poltrona Frau.
“For aeons, outdoor furniture was characterised by timber and teak,” says Ludovic Aublanc, creative director at Chaplins. “Wonderfully resistant materials, it’s true, but not always the most inviting thing to sit on.
“The new arrivals from Gubi and B&B Italia have changed all that. In taking the time to understand the way people live and lounge, they’ve brought the living room into the garden, setting a new high bar for what it means to live al fresco.”
Design goes full circle
The last story is one we’ve been tracking ever since 2017. Curves are everywhere. And they’re not just restricted to soft furnishings, either.
Amid the cornucopia of sinuous styles are loop-the-loop dining chairs, sweeping desks — and even the odd circular bookcase. Part of the impetus for this sumptuous styling is almost certainly traceable to all the undulating shapes being explored in the metaverse.
For whether it’s fashion, furniture or a Charlotte Taylor render, hard edges are out — and our homes are all the more hypnotic for it.
Anna Howell is interiors editor at Chaplins.
For more ideas on modern living, see www.chaplins.co.uk. Or book an appointment to visit the 25,000 sq ft luxury lifestyle showroom in Hatch End, where you’ll find all of these styles and more under one roof. Chaplins Furniture, 407-577 Uxbridge Road, HA5 4JS
