As a kid I loved making forts: my initial sheets over chairs and broomsticks advanced to precarious tree huts. My places of play were places of inhabitation. This couch suite references that memory. Like a fort seems to a kid, it’s big; it’s exciting; it feels more like a place than a thing. You can be swallowed up in its comfort. When you push the two couches together,you’ve got a swimming pool to lounge around in.

I am not a product designer; nor do I cater my designs to ease of fabrication or market. I approach furniture as habitable sculpture:the space between art and architecture, if you are inclined to separate the two.

I have been thinking about how I design furniture or objects for a few years. My current process pulls on the first instinct,much like a thread. Within time I have moved far enough to critique the initial instinct. This process has been effective, particularly as I am 90% of the production line: this involvement gives me multiple feedback loops from design and construction through to function.

This couch is a series of large blue foam cushions that sit within a steel wire frame. The physical and visual rigidity of the steel frame, which is welded together from 6mm round bar mesh, presses into the outside of the cushions. Over time, as the foam softens, the impression the mesh makes on it will deepen. The blue-on-blue palette amplifies this dialogue.      

The coffee table is also made from steel. It makes use of the same vertical members from the couch, in a contrasting colour. Each one of the 98 legs would be fragile alone; together they make a robust platform. The 3mm steel top would sag without so many legs or additional structure. I am inspired by the limitations of steel; I think I will exploit this in a future project.