New pieces: comfort, curves and the return of soft modernism
Rounded shells, bouclé and deep seats: why this year’s fair is the softest yet.
Walk the Mill Floor this December and you will notice it before you can name it: the corners have gone. Chairs curve into themselves, sofas swell, and tables look as if they were shaped by water.
Designers call it soft modernism. It keeps modernism’s honesty about materials and construction, but it puts the body first. A chair is judged not by how it photographs but by how long you want to stay in it.
Atelier Morrow’s Dune lounge chair is the clearest example. Its shell was modelled in clay, pressed by hand until the back and arms became one line, then translated into foam and leather without losing the softness of the maquette.
Come and sit in it. That is the whole point.
