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The Polyvalence of Designer Sofas: From modular systems to luxury pieces
They are the equivalent of what a bed means to a bedroom: one can put a lot of effort and thought into the rest of the furniture and decor, but this is the one piece that holds everything together. In the case of the bedroom, perhaps the main factor is comfort: finding the right kind of mattress, a soft duvet, good quality sheets etc. However, when it comes to sofas, comfort and style are to be held in a careful balance. It’s already a challenge to find truly comfortable designer sofas, and the challenge is greater when you consider that it has to match your living room, office or lounge.
How many times have you seen a designer sofa and thought it was very stylish, but then sat down and realised it lacks a certain level of comfort? Or conversely, how often have you sat on soft pillowy couches that do not quite fit their surroundings? To make things worse, there are different kinds of comfort which will depend on the setting and the collective dynamics that take place there. For example, one of those deep designer sofas that you can just melt into might be perfect to spend lazy Sunday afternoons in your TV room. On the other hand, such a sofa is perhaps not ideal for somewhere like an office, where you might want something with a slightly more upright and formal seating position to work or socialise.
However, we can also focus on the positive and generative flipside of this situation. Yes, it is complicated to find a good sofa that fits a specific space, but this is also an indication of their polyvalence as a typology of furniture. The fact that one can find the right sofa for any specific context is a testament to the wide variety that exists out there, as well as to the vital role that a sofa plays in creating and fostering particular types of interactions and settings. With this in mind, let’s take a quick look at some of the designer sofas offered by the Spanish furniture brands in our curated catalogue. What makes all these sofas special is their versatility and adaptability, made possible by modular configurations, the multiplicity of compositions, and the variety of personalised accessories.
Viccarbe’s Versatile Modular Designer Sofa Systems
The brand Viccarbe (named after the initials of its creator, Victor Carrasco) regularly shows up in our blog posts due to the wide range of designer furniture they offer. For this post, we would like to show you three of our favourite modular sofa systems from this Spanish furniture brand.
The first designer sofa we would like to show you is also one of their latest additions. Conceived by Victor Carrasco himself, the Savina is a modular cloud sofa that is designed with collaborative spaces in mind, but which is comfortable enough to also be used at home or in hybrid lounge spaces. Its polyvalence and versatility come from the variety of modules and accessories available: there are 12 different compositions of varying sizes and the accessories available range from hidden dynamic casters to armrests and electricity outlets. Furthermore, the Savina uses Viccarbe’s new sustainable upholstery material created in collaboration with Ecoalf, a fashion brand famous for its experimentation with recycled textiles.
Next up is the Sistema floor sofa, designed by Lievore Altherr Molina. The Sistema is a highly personalisable and versatile modular designer sofa system, available in multiple compositions and with various accessories and upholstery options: when you acquire a Sistema you can choose the number of seats, the type of backrest, legs, armrest material, and extra accessories (low tables, tables, pouffes, and electricity outlets). You can check some of these options in the product configuration section on Viccarbe’s website. There are several types of legs available, but we would like to draw your attention to the floor version. This version of the Sistema is particularly sleek due to its hidden short legs which make it seem like the sofa is hovering a couple of centimetres above the floor. This aesthetic makes it an ideal piece for lounge areas and collaborative spaces.
The Season sofa is another piece of Spanish furniture from Viccarbe, conceived by the renowned and prize-winning Italian architect and designer Piero Lissoni. We have featured the Season chair in this post, highlighting its bold geometric shapes and its availability in several different bright colours and upholstery options. The Season designer sofa extends this same aesthetic into a modular sofa system. What makes this particular sofa system stand out is the sculptural qualities that it acquires when you assemble several modules together. This is achieved with the help of gently curved modules (concave and convex) which allow for virtually endless serpentine configurations. Thus, the Season sofa modular system fits particularly well in large open-floor spaces such as airports, hotel lobbies and convention centres.
Perobell and Casadesus Luxury Designer Sofas
With the following sofas from Casadesus and Perobell, we leave the realm of modular systems for collaborative spaces and enter that of high-end designer sofas conceived with comfort in mind. The first one is the Marlow sofa, designed by G Vegni & G Gualtierotti for Casadesus. The Marlow is a generously large executive sofa that exudes luxuriousness: from the capitonne stitched detail seat cushion, to the elegant arms and back rhythms, it comes with a big pile of duck feather-filled cushions, and the largest version is almost 3.5 metres long. However, it is one of those rare luxury sofas that manage to reach such a level of lusciousness while also staying firmly within the domain of contemporary design.
The last sofa we want to mention is the Wallace, designed by Antoni Palleja for Perobell. This one-of-a-kind luxury sofa is considerably more restrained and unassuming when compared to the previous one, but this does not imply a sacrifice in comfort. One aspect that distinguishes it from most other sofas we have seen is the armrests, which fold into the couch as a pair of flaps and which allow for a more divan-like seating configuration if unfolded. Furthermore, as we mentioned in a this post, the upholstery is made from Noah fabric. This fabric is a zero-waste material made 100% with recycled polyester from PET bottles. It was created by Crevin, a company that is at the forefront of sustainable design and which fabricates top-quality fabrics for several high-end design brands.
This brief list of examples is just a small glimpse of the wide range of designer sofas that you can find in our catalogue. Whether you need a modular system which can adapt to the changing dynamics of a collaborative multifunctional space or a luxury piece to stand at the centre of your living room, we have your needs covered.
