What does a designer’s couch tell us about their approach to creativity? We speak to five creatives to find out
In Monocle’s book ‘Designers on Sofas’, we interviewed 50 leading designers and architects about their relationships with their settee. Here, we visit a few more.
The sofa in your living room reveals a lot about your priorities and your outlook on life. For designers and architects, there’s often an added layer of meaning: their choice of perch can reflect their core creative philosophies. Monocle explores this idea in our newly published book Designers on Sofas, for which we spoke to 50 leading architects and designers about their relationships with their settee. Here, we visit five more.
Find a comfy seat and settle in.
1.
Amanda Levete
Architect, London
Sofa of choice: Anfibio, Giovannetti
Plump and easy to expand, UK architect Amanda Levete’s Anfibio sofa is steeped in history. A leather- covered version of it can be found in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, where designer Alessandro Becchi first showed the unconventional sofa-bed as part of the trail-blazing 1972 exhibition Italy: The New Domestic Landscape – a show that helped to put the country’s contemporary-design scene on the map.
But Levete came across the model about 10 years later, when she was house-sitting for her then-employer, British-Italian architect Richard Rogers. “Looking at it still reminds me of those happy days when I used to work for him,” she says.
Levete’s Anfibio is in her library. “It’s one of my weekend rituals to sit there in the morning sun, reading or playing Scrabble with my husband.” During holiday seasons, the sofa’s convertible form comes in handy. “Some of the best moments are at Christmas, when all of our kids are here,” adds Levete. “We open it up and it becomes a cosy nest for reading and chatting in.”
Despite its domestic appeal, the Anfibio is uniquely stylish. “It’s clever and consists of just one piece,” says Levete. “The soft profile is elegantly low enough so that it fits perfectly below a window without obscuring the view.” Manufactured by Tuscan brand Giovannetti, which had a long creative relationship with Becchi, the Anfibio is the product of a radical turn in design history whose ideas continue to resonate.
About the owner:
One of UK architecture’s leading lights, Amanda Levete is a Stirling Prize winner who established her practice AL_A in 2009. The studio’s portfolio includes Lisbon’s Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology and Bangkok’s Central Embassy.
2.
Konstantinos Pantazis and Marianna Rentzou
Architects, Athens
Sofa of choice: Vimle, Ikea
“The couch is like a home,” says Athens-based architect Konstantinos Pantazis, who co-founded Point Supreme studio with his wife, Marianna Rentzou, in 2008. “It’s a place where you need to be comfortable.” The couple designed their home in the Greek capital’s Petralona neighbourhood, updating an early-20th-century residence by blending surrealist ideas with contemporary Greek aesthetics. Taking pride of place at the centre of their living room – perhaps surprisingly, given their high architectural standards – is a Vimle sofa from Ikea.
“It’s so comfortable and unpretentious,” says Pantazis. “It’s not a couch that you need to be very careful with. You’ll find us on it during the day and also our two young children and their friends.” The couple’s configuration is composed of three deep, large cushions that can be easily removed to create additional room. Significantly, the sofa responds to the home’s architecture. “The house is pretty extreme in its proportions,” says Rentzou, explaining that the living room’s ceiling is three storeys high, with a tree planted at the centre. “It has a very strange feeling, a bit like being outside in a courtyard when you’re indoors.”
The resulting atrium-like atmosphere, combined with a multitude of hard surfaces (including a large table), could make for a cold and uninviting space – which is why the couple chose such a large sofa. “When you’re on the couch, it’s the only place that’s horizontal, soft and comfortable,” says Pantazis. “Everything else around it is hard. So that’s why the sofa feels so welcoming and warm.”
About the owners:
Konstantinos Pantazis and Marianna Rentzou co-founded Athensbased Point Supreme Architects in 2008. The studio’s work has a distinctive Mediterranean flavour, using vibrant colours and graphic elements, and seamlessly blurring indoor and outdoor spaces.
3.
David Montalba
Architect, Los Angeles
Sofa of choice: Hamilton, Minotti
David Montalba is obsessed with the details. In his work, every line, junction and material is calibrated with precision – and that same sensibility extends to his own living spaces. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Santa Monica Canyon home that he designed for his family, where a custom Hamilton sectional sofa by Italian brand Minotti acts as both a centrepiece and a case study. Purchased in 2020, the couch was chosen to harmonise with the home’s restrained palette, spatial clarity and lived-in elegance.
“It’s a piece that changes with us,” says Montalba, who is the founding principal of Montalba Architects. Originally conceived as a single large L-shape, the sofa has since been rearranged multiple times to meet changing needs – from opening up space for a Christmas tree to framing conversations and allowing for easier movement through the room. “It became two sofas that speak to each other,” he says. “That dialogue made the room feel more alive.”
What began as a formal focal point has now evolved into a place of casual intimacy. His daughter has claimed a corner; the family dog perches on another ledge. And like the house itself, the settee has lost its sacredness, becoming a feature of daily life, family habits and spontaneous gatherings. “At first, we barely used it,” says Montalba. “Now we eat on it, watch TV and lounge. It’s part of our routine.”
Still, even in its most relaxed moments, the couch carries the refined sensibilities of its maker, Minotti. Montalba’s obsession with scale, proportion and tactility has turned a simple piece of furniture into an active participant in the home’s architectural effect. “A good sofa isn’t just something you sit on,” he says. “It helps to shape how you experience a room. It is part of the choreography.”
About the owner:
Swiss-American architect David Montalba bridges the design cultures of his two nationalities, combining Californian experimentation with Swiss precision. His work is characterised by volumetric forms that connect indoors and outdoors.
4.
Chen Chen
Designer, New York
Sofa of choice: Togo, Ligne Roset
Brooklyn-based designer Chen Chen first encountered Michel Ducaroy’s low-slung Togo sofa – a 1973 design classic that is still manufactured by French furniture firm Ligne Roset – when he was a student at New York’s Pratt Institute. It immediately made a big impression on him. “It was unlike anything that I had ever seen before,” says Chen. “From that moment, I knew that I had to have one.” So when the time came to kit out his own apartment, he decided to buy one. “For me, it was the fulfilment of a dream – though, at that moment, I had never actually sat on one.”
Chen wasn’t disappointed and the Togo has become an integral part of his home set-up. “When it was delivered to my apartment, I was really surprised to find that there wasn’t a frame inside,” he says. “It’s essentially like a giant foam pillow.” The designer found that he could move the sofa – which was lighter than he expected it to be – without assistance, making it a perfect fit with his domestic arrangements.
“In New York, we don’t have a lot of space so it had to be functional, comfortable and also visually appealing,” says Chen. The Togo’s leather upholstery is another charm. “There are scars on the material from wear and tear over the years, like a history that is being written into the sofa.” This mutability appealed to the designer, whose practice with fellow Pratt Institute alumnus Kai Williams has a keen interest in the transformative qualities of materials.
Despite his deep love for the piece, however, Chen confesses that his ideal couch would be a roomier version than the one that he owns. “A lot of sofas funnel you in towards the centre,” he says. “If I were to design one, I would make sure that it had a lot of structure. It needs to keep people sitting where they are.”
About the owner:
Chen Chen creates furniture and lighting in partnership with fellow designer Kai Williams. The New York-based duo are known for their use of industrial materials and their playful reinterpretations of everyday objects.
5.
William Smalley Luis
Architect, London
Sofa of choice: B&B Italia
“Sofas tend to be divided into those that look nice and those that are comfortable. And, as a rule, you can have either one or the other.” Architect William Smalley is describing the problem that often complicates the purchase of a home’s biggest piece of furniture. “So after I moved in here, I didn’t have a sofa for four years because I couldn’t find the right one.”
Thankfully, those days are over and Smalley’s home – a heritage-listed building in central London’s Bloomsbury neighbourhood – is now fully furnished, with a large modular sofa by B&B Italia taking pride of place in the living room. Designed by Antonio Citterio, the couch, titled Luis, has been through various configurations.
“I got the chaise and the ottoman, which went on the end of the couch,” says Smalley. “Then I wanted another, so I bought a chair section, which used to sit as a separate piece. And then, one day, the sofa and the chair made friends and the square thing at the end became the ottoman. So it has been sequential. The sofa has been added to and it is very comfortable.”
Smalley originally alternated brown and white covers for winter and summer. “The problem is that the white one is much nicer and I don’t really like being gloomy in winter,” he says. “And it’s not very white any more because I have a dog.”
The introduction of Smalley’s Jack Russell, Dylan (“as in Thomas”), served as a corrective to the idea that architects live in pristine, minimalist spaces. “I think that everyone has been very amused by Dylan messing up what they see as my perfect life.” The sofa is now a piece that has been lived in – and on – and has accrued its own history.
About the owner:
Known for his quiet, elegant style, William Smalley is a master of blending heritage and modern architecture. He runs his namesake practice from London, where projects range from Manhattan apartment renovations to Alpine château reconstructions.
The Monocle Book of Designers on Sofas | Pre-order
Monocle meets 50 celebrated designers from across the globe who get cosy on their couches (with their pets, partners and children) and tell us about their sofa choices – why they designed it, why they chose it, how they use it. They reveal fresh insights into their work, their lives, their passions and their style. Original photographic portraits and in-depth interviews transport us into the homes of some of our favourite creatives. We also take you on a fascinating journey that starts at an English country house in 1675 to find out about the 350-year history of the sofa. And we have compiled an illustrated guide to 100 of the most iconic examples, representing the best from 125 years of settee design. Take a seat and join the conversation.
Pre-order here
