Shoppers in Hong Kong have traditionally congregated in the city’s well-stocked central neighbourhoods but many are increasingly venturing a little further out for their retail fix. A 15-minute drive will take them to The Repulse Bay, a new destination in the southern part of Hong Kong Island, which has undergone a remarkable two-year transformation courtesy of The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited.

The beachfront property, which brings together residential units and specialist retailers, is on the site of a former colonial-style hotel. From its opening in the 1920s to the early 1980s, The Repulse Bay Hotel was a glittering institution that welcomed glamorous guests including Ernest Hemingway and Marlon Brando. In more recent times, however, it stood largely forgotten. But The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels has given it a new lease of life and the complex is drawing more visitors to the southern side of the island, thanks to an impressive overhaul of the tenant mix. The group has focused on boutique retailers instead of mainstream luxury brands, turning the site’s shopping arcade into a hub of best-in-class bakers, restaurateurs, florists and fashion designers.

A trip to the bay now comes with the promise of making fresh discoveries. Tapping into an appetite for all things Made in Japan, several businesses from the country have set up shop here, including workwear brand Human Made. Visitors can also pick up rugs and embroidered kaftans at lifestyle shop Inside, jewellery by accessories brand Via de Lourdes and plenty more.

“Many years ago we had brands such as Christian Dior but, right now, we wanted to look at specialists rather than all of the usual shops,” says Olaf Born, who oversaw the transformation as the general manager of The Repulse Bay and Peninsula Clubs and Consultancy Services. Monocle meets him in The Verandah, the restaurant and central landmark of the complex, situated almost precisely where the hotel’s famous live jazz concerts used to take place in the 1930s.

“We also have to take into account the 402 apartments that we have to provide amenities for,” says Born, pointing to the charming residential complex. Here, locals relax on the lawn and families can be seen heading down to the beach in groups. There’s a strong sense of community and the team at The Repulse Bay seeks to nurture it further with monthly cocktail meetings, at which residents are able to share their views on the development of their neighbourhood.

“We looked back at the history of the south side,” says Born. “This used to be The Repulse Bay Hotel, where people would come on holiday and there would always be events happening. Even if we don’t have the hotel, we want to recreate that ambience and make it a destination in Hong Kong again.”

Also joining the neighbourhood are home-grown businesses Caffé Parabolica, Bakeshop Parabolica and florist Blackbird Conservatory, complementing the existing mix of grocers, restaurants and fashion brands. Visitors and residents alike can sip good coffee, pick up Japanese-inspired baked goods and find plants and floral arrangements to brighten up their homes. The bakery and café are already attracting more than 10,000 visitors a month, many of whom come for the popular cream latte and egg sando (a simple sandwich made using thick shokupan bread). The ambition is to double this number by the end of this year.

“We want to assist brands that might not have a presence in Hong Kong, as well as local talent,” says Born. “That makes things very interesting.” The group’s efforts to keep things fresh also involve a series of temporary pop-up shops, collaborations and artist residencies. In December 2024, the shopping arcade hosted a two-day camping-themed event with Japanese brand Visvim. Working with independent businesses aligns with The Repulse Bay’s broader ambition to highlight heritage and great design. Japanese labels, such as Human Made, have proven to be particularly good matches, given their focus on handicraft.

Hong Kong residents often joke about Japan being their second home. Many make trips to the country multiple times a year and there is a long history of cultural exchange dating back to the early 20th century. That’s why bringing Japanese touches to The Repulse Bay is a smart move – and it’s paying off.

“We have certainly seen a much younger crowd coming from central Hong Kong, not just the south side,” says Born. “We have a lot of younger people using the terrace at [pan-Asian restaurant and bar] Spices. Residents are becoming regulars now too.” It’s a welcome sea change. With new ventures in the pipeline, including markets and brand-specific events, Born is confident that The Repulse Bay can help to re-establish the area as a buzzing Hong Kong destination.

His ambitions run far and wide, encompassing everything from orchestrating the return of tea dances at The Verandah restaurant to opening an archive room that could tell the story of the illustrious development. “There’s a huge history here and we want to find a way of displaying it for future generations, as well as today’s younger people,” he says. Resonant historical references can be found throughout the arcade; in the courtyard, roses are currently being planted to pay homage to the flowers that once encircled the gardens of the hotel. Downstairs, Human Made uses bellboy trolleys as clothing racks. These are filled with vintage-inspired workwear, including chino trousers and elegant bowling shirts. Around the corner is Human Made’s food shop, Curry Up, which is its first international outpost.

“We have seen more brands reaching out to us that wouldn’t have done so in the past,” says Born. “We hope to be a springboard for upcoming designers who might then move to a more central spot for a bigger space. We understand that they’ll outgrow us but that’s fine because it keeps us fresh and gives us space for new tenants.”

Though the transformation is expected to be completed this year, there will always be room to experiment with retail concepts, introduce new names and encourage locals to visit the south side more frequently. “It’s a collaboration between ourselves, the brands and the community,” says Born. “We have beautiful surroundings, a true boutique feel and a few of the very best things.”
hshgroup.com

Crucially, hospitality is also about the atmosphere cultivated by the interior design and architecture, spanning everything from material selection to furniture choice and lighting levels. These are the names making a material difference to leading hospitality operations across the globe.

1.
Chzon
Paris

“I made the choice to focus on hospitality because I’ve always enjoyed thinking about the narratives around projects,” says Dorothée Meilichzon, whose colourful design studio is nestled in a Haussmann building in Paris’s 10th arrondissement. “Who is going to sleep in this hotel? What’s the story of the building and the neighbourhood? How do we incorporate it?”  The practice, founded in 2009, works exclusively in hospitality design, with recent projects including the Experimental Chalet Val d’Isère in the French Alps.

An essential part of Chzon’s work is to analyse how people eat, socialise and sleep in a determined space in order to provide customers with an experience that feels intuitive. The studio is also keen to make each project distinct. “I get the idea of people wanting a hotel to be reassuring so guests can expect similar things in a particular hotel brand,” says Meilichzon. “But travel is about exceptionality and discovery, so you have to be surprised too.”

Working on introducing surprise means that no two projects look the same and each has discreet but distinct Chzon features. Shades of blue and green tend to dominate, with plenty of samples organised in labelled drawers at the studio, where a small team works in an open space bathed in the sunlight from the bay window. Meilichzon draws furniture for each project herself, which allows the designer to create something with a unique character that is still distinctly hers. The pieces are made using simple materials such as linen, cotton and wood, usually found near each project’s site. “We’re always looking to make the pieces travel as little as possible and utilise local craftsmanship traditions whenever we can,” she says.

In the case of the newly opened Experimental Chalet, locally sourced pine and wool were used to make traditional Savoyard chests and textiles. Other elements play with the region’s symbols, such as crests featuring the Val d’Isère eagle, door handles imitating branches and unique plaster on the walls. In mixing these details with a building programme that includes two restaurants and a lobby lounge, it means that guests at the chalet – whether early risers who like to be the first on the peak or those more inclined to participate in après-ski activities – are guaranteed a sense of escape.

This attention to these seemingly insignificant features ensures that each project feels grounded in place. “I want everyone who walks into one of our rooms to feel at ease,” says Meilichzon. “I want people to see that we’ve thought of them in every detail.”
chzon.com

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2.
Acme
Sydney

Well-designed hospitality spaces should whisk us away from reality. For Sydney-based multidisciplinary studio Acme, figuring out how to provide that escape has been central to its approach since its first venue, Sydney café The Grounds of Alexandria. “I was working on the interiors for the project and was trying to give patrons a sense of arrival, to move them through the space and take them on this experiential journey,” says Caroline Choker, interior designer and Acme co-founder. It was a challenge that prompted Choker to enlist her partner, architect Vince Alafaci, to look at the café’s master planning and think about how to knit the sprawling site’s disparate spaces into one cohesive story.

The pair’s skillset – Alafaci’s big-picture architectural view and Choker’s eye for interior detail – were perfectly complementary and came to the fore at The Grounds of Alexandria in 2012, a hugely popular venture that uplifted the surrounding neighbourhood and inspired countless imitators. The duo formally founded Acme the following year and have since been responsible for some of the country’s most admired hospitality venues, from the heritage grandeur of Apollo Inn and Gimlet in Melbourne to the panoramic coastal luxury of Sydney’s Mimi’s.

The boutique studio has now grown to six staff and works on just eight to 10 projects a year, all of them powered by Alafaci and Choker’s shared approach. “We create solutions that integrate both disciplines, where architecture and interiors are seamless,” says Alafaci, explaining that although every Acme endeavour is unique, all of them share a vision of luxury that feels distinctly Australian, with an emphasis on context. That is why every Acme venue is characterised by abundant natural light, a multisensory approach to local textures and materials, and exteriors and colour palettes that speak to their area. “The trap for designers these days, especially in the hospitality realm, is taking inspiration from projects in other countries that don’t apply here,” says Choker. “We’re both from Sydney so we try to make sure that anything we do [in the city] is based on our experience.”

As grounded as Acme’s projects are in their Australian surroundings, the mission of transporting guests away from the familiar rhythms of their everyday life is still the priority. And it begins with a story. When Acme does its initial conceptual presentation to its clients, in addition to a floor plan and 3D visualisation of the space, the designers also present a storyboarded narrative of the venue. “We almost treat it like it’s a movie,” says Alafaci. “We write this story of the place and create a fantasy of what the project could be – it helps our design to have that touchpoint and it immerses the clients in the journey that we want to take guests on.”
acme-co.com.au

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3.
MHOA
Austin

The ideal dining room seats about 40 people. That, at least, is the consensus among the restaurateurs who work with Michael Hsu Office of Architecture (MHOA), an Austin-based firm that has made a name for itself with eye-catching restaurant design. While many such establishments can seat far more, this perceived optimal size creates the opportunity, says Hsu, “to design spaces within spaces”. Take Uchiko Plano, a sushi restaurant in a Dallas suburb, which opened in 2024. It can fit 175 guests but following that golden rule led MHOA to design different areas, from a noisy bar for a lively night out to a hushed nook in the rear of the dining room for private conversations.

The emphasis on acoustics fits with MHOA’s philosophy that designing for dining is a multi-sensory experience. There are the obvious tastes and smells of the food but also distinctive visual techniques, such as providing sightlines to signature elements of the kitchen – say a wood-fired grill or chicken rotisserie. “Restaurants elicit a higher level of emotional response than other spaces,” says Hsu. “So we ask what we want it to feel like before we dive into what we want it to look like.”

For architects, conjuring feeling is a matter of paying close attention. “We expect all of our designers to be really astute observers of the world,” says MHOA principal Maija Kreishman. “Is the lighting too bright or too dim? Is my seat too wide or too high? Hospitality is made in the inches of a table, zeroing in on the many small elements to make one larger whole.” 

Hsu was born in Taiwan, where his mother, a classically trained chef, ran a noodle shop. He was raised in Houston and educated in Austin. The two cities are now home to his firm’s two studios, with hotels and restaurants accounting for about one third of the portfolio. And while Hsu has carved out a name among the Michelin-aspiring set, he is just as willing to apply his sheen to labour-of-love projects, such as restoring a casual bar, Uptown Sports, in an Austin heritage building that serves shrimp po’ boys and shows sport on TV.

For Hsu, a year travelling in Europe as an architecture student – and talking his way into a job with Rem Koolhaas along the way – cemented the notion that a worldly designer is a better designer. He cites being inspired by places such as the Alhambra gardens or a mid-century ranch on the Californian coast. Ultimately, Hsu’s firm gravitates toward the world of food and drink because they find kindred spirits among their clients. “Restaurateurs are some of our favorite people,” says Kreishman. “We all love to travel.”
hsuoffice.com

When monocle walks into the lobby of Texas Tower, the pleasant scent of sandalwood and primrose wafts through the air. The Italian-marble floors and white coffee tables suggest a well-appointed living room – albeit one with numerous power outlets and task lighting at the ready. Well-dressed professionals sit and chat in richly upholstered chairs, before heading further up to one of the downtown Houston office building’s 47 storeys.

Designed by Pelli Clarke & Partners, the building, which opened in 2021, is 81 per cent leased at the time of our visit. Texas Tower’s vibrancy is no mean feat at a time when the office market is sagging across North America. Both the building and its owner and developer, Hines, the global real-estate investment manager that has its headquarters here, are bright outliers. Despite a global downturn in the office market, the 67-year-old family business is riding high. Three regional headquarters – Grainhouse in London, West Edge in Los Angeles and 555 Greenwich in New York – debuted in the past year. The company has also recently opened branch offices in New Zealand and Vietnam, and announced several new trophy properties, including a 74-storey mixed-use complex in Busan.

With $93bn (€87bn) in assets, Hines’ executives are confident that the company’s historic investment in top-grade buildings will ensure that it benefits from the market phenomenon in which financiers move capital into more stable assets. As companies downsize their offices because of the rise in remote working, remaining tenants are able to choose from a glut of available options and seek out only the best. This is what’s referred to as the “flight to quality”.

After a whistle-stop tour across Houston to witness the property legacy of the company’s founder, Gerald D Hines, monocle ascends to the 33rd floor of Texas Tower to meet its third-generation leader, Laura Hines-Pierce. The Harvard-trained executive joined the family business in 2012 and cut her teeth as project manager for a 52-storey office tower with a park next to the Chicago river.

A decade later, she was installed in the business’s upper echelons. Hines-Pierce lives in Houston with her husband and two children, and takes a hands-on approach to the company’s global portfolio. Her family spent much of last year abroad as she worked out of regional offices in Asia and Europe to better acquaint herself with her team and the cities where Hines operates.

She and her father, Jeffrey Hines, now operate as co-ceos. The latter is focused on keeping the business strong; Hines-Pierce, in turn, has the luxury of planning for the future and taking on the challenge of stepping out of the shadow of her family’s legacy. Working from an office where her grandfather’s slide rule and camera are displayed like treasured museum artefacts, the 40-year-old executive represents a fresh face for this storied business.

Why does Hines invest so heavily in design?
It’s the area where my grandfather was a pioneer and shifted the industry. When he was pitching the opportunity to develop Shell’s North American headquarters, his first high-rise office, he didn’t have anything in his portfolio taller than 14 storeys. Other developers came with plans and models. He picked up a high-quality German-engineered doorknob that had weight and heft, and said, “I’m going to deliver quality in every aspect of the building, right down to the doorknobs.” His philosophy was that if you invest upfront in quality design, you create value by leasing a building faster. You also incur fewer operating expenses for replacing low-quality elements and fetch a higher price when you sell. That theory has been proven.

How would you explain Hines’s appeal to a company trying to choose between you and a competitor?
There has been an evolution in our industry from a focus on high-quality physical design elements alone to thinking also about the user experience. That starts on the streetscape, with how a building interacts with a community. What is the experience as you’re moving through the space? How is it positively affecting your quality of life on a day-to-day basis? Quality and design have expanded from the level of a physical asset to one of how you operate and manage.

Our goal is to bring a mixed-use feel to the office, which has historically been a single-use asset class. We aspire to provide hospitality in a way that makes people’s lives easier and works for their commute. We aim to provide physical spaces that deliver a variety of different work environments and an entertainment or culinary experience if required, as well as excellent user experience that encompasses on-site services such as tailoring, dry cleaning or even vitamin and IV drips.

We hired Forbes Travel Guide to advise on how to stock and display amenity kits in our restrooms and mothers’ rooms, and we train our staff in how to assist clients: if they have their hands full, offer a helping hand; if they ask for directions, offer a partial escort; if they ask about restaurants, offer to book a reservation.

We call this our holistic hospitality approach. For office workers, the advancements are designed to make attendance not just necessary but desirable. Think of it as our way of saying that we care about every moment that you spend in our properties. It’s all about making those everyday tasks a bit lighter for everyone. We want our properties to be more than just workspaces. We want to create exceptional experiences.

You recently toured Hines offices around the world. What did you learn about where cities are heading?
We’re seeing cities with a true mix of uses performing much better than those with single-use districts. This trend is evident worldwide and there is a noticeable shift away from specific business or retail districts. Instead, we are witnessing much more integration, because people want a blend of amenities around them.

Take, for example, Century City in Los Angeles, which is mostly mixed use. Class-A vacancy has never been lower, net rents have never been higher and there’s new construction under way that is 100 per cent pre-leased. Compare that with downtown LA, which is primarily single-use and a very different story, even though it’s just 12 miles away.

Every property firm professes to have some kind of green or sustainability credentials but the market downturn has forced some to cut back on energy retrofits and other efficiency measures. How does Hines approach this concern?
Given his mechanical-engineering background, my grandfather started us on that path because it was just good business: you can save operational costs by having better design and lower energy usage. Tenants are looking for spaces that aren’t adding to their carbon footprint.

We are expanding our existing New York office into what has been called the greenest building in the city. It’s already 45 per cent below New York’s regulatory emissions target for 2030 because it uses geothermal heating and cooling. In every new investment, we are underwriting the path to net zero. It’s a very big consideration when we’re weighing up an investment.

How has Hines’s business model changed with the times?
We’re increasingly integrating workspace elements into residential properties to create exceptional work-from-home set-ups, while developing dining and retail options that complement office environments. Work, leisure and living spaces are overlapping and there’s a growing need for properties to seamlessly blend these elements. As product types continue to converge and blend, the success of a project is partly determined by how well the physical structures and on-site experiences support people’s evolving needs.

There’s work, play and living. And it’s important to bring those experiences together. That’s the design element that people are looking for but can’t really put their finger on.
hines.com

The sofa is – by many measures – the singular, most defining piece of furniture that one can own. Often the largest item in a living room, it can dictate everything from our behaviour to our selection of other pieces. Whether it’s a plush contemporary work or vintage leather number, our couches speak volumes about our personalities and lifestyles, providing somewhere to unwind, entertain and relax.

Here, we visit the homes of 12 leading creatives to hear about their settees. Get comfy and read on – just don’t forget to plump the cushions when you’re done.

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Llisa Demetrios, curator, Petaluma
Eames sofa by Herman Miller

Llisa Demetrios has just returned home after giving the day’s last tour at the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity, the non-profit exhibition space in California’s Bay Area dedicated to the work of her grandparents, designers Charles and Ray Eames. “This is my place to pause,” says Demetrios, the institute’s chief curator, leaning back into the gently reclined black leather of the Eames sofa in her home. “It holds you but you also have to sink in a little bit; you don’t perch on a truly great sofa.” This sofa – the last project her grandparents worked on together – went into production in 1984, five years after Charles had died. Demetrios bought a pair almost 20 years ago, intending to pass them down to her own children. After all, Eames furniture was designed to withstand the test of time and Charles and Ray were always fascinated by how people lived with their work. “When I was growing up, they would send my mother a lot of prototypes,” adds Demetrios. “I do wonder now if they were just testing out what five young grandchildren could do with the furniture.”

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Fien Muller & Hannes van Severen, designers, Ghent
Pillow sofa by BD Barcelona

“We like to live with our own pieces,” says Fien Muller, one half of Belgian design duo Muller van Severen, which she co-founded with Hannes van Severen in 2011. “We want to know how they behave in real life.” That includes the couch at their home in Ghent, which is in production with BD Barcelona. Launched at Salone del Mobile in April 2024, the Pillow Sofa was shipped directly from the showroom in Milan to take up residence in the couple’s living room. Modular and low-slung, it is upholstered in a bright, mint-green leather and informed by the best Italian mid-century designs. “Sofas are a difficult thing to design, because they have to be comfortable,” says Muller. To that end, the Pillow is passing its live-in test with flying colours. “I often fall asleep on it,” says Van Severen. “I wake up in the middle of the night thinking, ‘Where am I?’” On several occasions, the couple have even put up house guests for the night on the sofa. “Nobody has ever complained.”

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Marcio Kogan, architect, São Paulo
Horizonte sofa by Minotti

For most, the ability to design one’s own dream sofa and have it put into production lies well beyond reach. Not so for Marcio Kogan, the Brazilian architect whose perch of choice is the Horizonte seating system, which he developed with Italian furniture company Minotti. “I’m an architect and in my studio we design everything for our projects,” says Kogan, who founded Studio mk27 in the 1970s. “One day, Minotti called us and asked where we bought the furniture for our projects. I said we design it.” It was a conversation that would change the course of work for both Studio mk27 and the furniture powerhouse; after the Minotti family visited Brazil, they invited Kogan to design for them. The partnership has been ongoing since Kogan’s first collection was released in 2018 and led to this sofa in 2022. “I like the proportion – that’s the main thing,” says Kogan “And I like the bouclé fabric.” He laughs, acknowledging that white sofas are a bold move. “But comfort is what’s most important.”

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Wael al Awar, architect, Dubai
Armchair by Unknown

“I don’t know its name but I knew that it would be mine as soon as I saw it,” says Wael al Awar. The Dubai-based architect found this 1960s piece as a set of four in 1998 at a Sunday market in Beirut. “I was studying architecture and doing a module on informal economies, so looking for deals at the market was a weekend ritual,” he adds. The architect fixed up the full set, which was found in terrible condition, and brought it with him to Dubai. Today the four capacious seats sit in his family home with his wife and twin boys having their own individual perches to curl up on. “I hate today’s low-back sofas. You should feel cradled, which is why I also love the hammock-like Jangada chair by Jean Gillon.” Awar’s chair, with its inbuilt table, also forms his home office. “Tea sits on one side, with my laptop on the other. Hidden beneath these inlaid tables is a secret compartment to keep magazines and papers in order too. Designers back then challenged the idea of a sofa and I appreciate that.”

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Nifemi Marcus-Bello, designer, Lagos
Äpplaryd sofa by Ikea

“Ikea has always been an interesting company and one I admire from afar,” says Nifemi Marcus-Bello. “I like its transparency around production and its design process.” The founder of Lagos-based Nmbello Studio is an ardent fan of the flat-pack specialist’s Äpplaryd sofa. “We didn’t have an Ikea in Lagos, so I had to go to great lengths to ship the sofa here from London.” Marcus-Bello’s work touches on narratives of African migration and identity, interweaving Nigerian artefacts with bold accents. He says that he never works on his sofa. “I associate it with rest so I can never get any work done,” he says. On weekends, the plush perch comes into its own. “The sofa plays a huge role within my space and family dynamic. It’s the only chair that we can all sit on at the same time.” He considered the limited natural light of the sofa’s surroundings, choosing a lighter fabric and a design that is raised off the floor to allow light to pass underneath. “The sofa is very considerate to our way of life.”

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Tarini Jindal Handa, gallerist, Mumbai
Standard sofa by Edra

“The functionality and comfort are incredible,” says Tarini Jindal Handa about her favourite piece of furniture. As the founder of Aequo, India’s first collectable-design gallery, Handa knows a thing or two about good seating. What helped the Standard sofa – designed by Francesco Binfaré for Italian furniture company Edra – win her over was its impressive adaptability. “Sofas should be comfortable,” she tells monocle from her home in Mumbai. “That is their most important attribute.” The couch’s mouldable backs and sides, made using Edra’s Smart Cushion and Gellyfoam technology, make it an extremely versatile piece, which can either be set upright for comfortable chats with friends or turned into a daybed for lounging. “It’s one of those wide, white, fluffy sofas,” says Handa. Having owned it for more than 10 years, it has become integral to her home – the pièce maîtresse of the living room. Handa adds that the sofa has almost become part of the family, occupying pride of place.

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Malika Favre, illustrator, Barcelona
Quilton sofa by Hay

“There are as many definitions of a good sofa as there are people,” says Malika Favre. The French illustrator’s choice comes in the shape of an electric-blue Quilton model by designer Doshi Levien for Danish furniture firm Hay. “Blue is my favourite colour. You can find pieces of it throughout my home.” It is also common in Favre’s work, such as her recent cover illustration for The New Yorker and re-edition of the 2017 Montreux Jazz festival poster. Before purchasing the Quilton model in 2023, Favre, who is based in Barcelona, had kept a mid-century couch through every move. It was nicknamed “the rock” because it was beautiful but not particularly comfy. Favre enjoys curling up in the evenings on her new (and cosier) Quilton but aesthetics remain key. “I need to be surrounded by beautiful things,” she says. “A good sofa should be comfortable but not at the cost of being gorgeous,” says Favre. “It needs to be elegant but also cosy and generous.”

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Grant Wilkinson & Teresa Rivera, designers, London
Peonia sofa by SCP

Grant Wilkinson and Teresa Rivera opened their design and manufacturing studio in 2020, the year that their son was born, so it was only natural that young family dynamics would influence their work. “We bake purpose into our designs,” says Rivera, sitting on the mohair cord sofa, which they created for London-based design brand scp. “It’s ridiculous to have something in the home that you can’t use. With a four-year-old around, it has to be sturdy and scrubbable.” The couple are content with their elegant sofa being taken over by a preschooler. “We’re have-dinner-on-the-sofa people,” adds Wilkinson. “It’s why we made the Peonia so deep, so that we can all fit comfortably.” The couple met while studying fine art. Despite having since moved into furniture design, they still think like artists. “As soon as we put pen to paper and start sketching, we’re talking about it the same way we used to talk about sculpture back at school,” says Wilkinson. ­

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Daniel Libeskind, architect, New York
La Maquette sofa by Louis Vuitton

“It was an impulse buy,” says Daniel Libeskind. The architect purchased his couch at Louis Vuitton’s 2014 Design Miami showcase, for which the French fashion house put the unrealised La Maquette collection by Pierre Paulin – including this sofa – into production. “I bought it without considering its size or scale, or the complexity of getting it up a building in New York.” But once it was placed in Libeskind’s home, its impact was immediate. “It’s the largest object that I have and has an unusual red-purple colour and an unexpected form that was clearly drawn by hand. That allows me to get away from the rectilinear modernist look that’s very prevalent in my house.” Today, it sits alongside the complementary white disc that is the La Maquette coffee table. “What makes a great sofa is not only comfort but what it looks like when you’re not sitting on it,” says Libeskind. “It’s about the views you get of it from different angles – looking down on it, looking across the room. I see La Maquette as a sculpture.”

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Ingegerd Råman, designer, Stockholm
VVP02 sofa by Verk

Ingegerd Råman no longer owns a sofa. And that should not come as a surprise: the octogenarian designer never stops moving – or working. When monocle talks to her, she has just left Skåne, where she has run her namesake studio since 1967, to visit Nice via Stockholm. But when pressed on where we would find her if she were to take a perch, she says it would likely be in the studio of Verk, a Swedish furniture firm that she recently designed a textile for, which now upholsters its vvp02 sofa.“The company is built on the idea that we have nice wool in Sweden and we should be using it in our homes,” says Råman, best known for her glass and ceramic work. “They approached me to make a wool textile and I developed something that is mostly grey, because sheep are mostly grey,” she says. Should she ever purchase a new couch, she would finish it in the textile too. “I can’t do anything that I can’t have myself. I couldn’t make something that I couldn’t have around for 10, 20 or 30 years.”­

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Joris Poggioli, designer, Paris
Patrick leather sofa by Joris Poggioli

There’s a personal story behind the name of Joris Poggioli’s sofa. “Patrick is a member of the team who has helped us develop everything that we draw, in particular this sofa,” says the French-Italian designer. “Once we had it, after almost 20 prototypes, I thought that the least he deserved was to have it named after him.” Finished in black leather, it was built to be flexible and adapt to its owner’s everyday life. “I love hosting guests and enjoy lying down,” adds Poggioli. “I adore watching movies and having the option of accommodating friends who stay over.” Sleek and elegant, Patrick (the sofa, not the person) can be turned around in different ways and even endure dinner-party spills. “I’m not a big fan of colour, so black was perfect.” For Poggioli, the ideal sofa is not only a pile of pillows that you can sink into but an expression of taste. “Some people are obsessed with comfort. My vision is that you must please your eyes first, because comfort for the eyes is comfort for the brain.”

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Farshid Moussavi, architect, London
Osaka sofa by La Cividina

“My living room is tall and long so I can choose pieces that wouldn’t work in a smaller space,” says Farshid Moussavi. The Iranian-born British architect’s environment calls for a sofa that can match it – and her five-metre-long version of the customisable Osaka sofa does just that. “It has metal brackets on the base, so you can shape and curve it. I was interested in this idea that I could change the look of the piece over time.” Moussavi spends much of her working day sitting down, so her spare time is spent away from the sofa. “I associate it with having company rather than relaxing alone,” she says, explaining that the sofa would be put to good use when she held birthday parties for her daughter, who grew up in the flat. The monochrome colour palette allows for some personalisation too, with Moussavi making a custom pillow inspired by one of her daughter’s drawings. And while comfort is important, the architect says it’s also critical that a sofa adds to the character of one’s home. “It’s a sculptural piece.”