Arflex sofas, made in Italy in the service of comfort and design
Comfortable, functional with a refined aesthetic that winks at vintage suggestions while not neglecting a certain modernity in lines and materials. The sofa is an indispensable element in every home, furniture capable of giving identity to an environment, even in its linearity and, above all, an extension of our body when we are tired and sink into its softness.
The importance of a sofa is measured at the time of choice, when you begin to envision the moments you will spend on it, alone or with others. Here, then, deciding which model is best suited to the space and mood of the room it will occupy is crucial.
From palette to materials to shapes and style, the market today has created an object-of-desire aura around the sofa.
Made in Italy has Arflex as its flagship company, an all-Italian story that began in the 1950s in a small factory in Milan’s Corso di Porta Vittoria and immediately became a symbol of artisanal culture, experimentation and innovation, thanks in part to collaborations with top designers, who created iconic and timeless pieces that have entered the history of world design.
Arflex‘s great strength has always been its ability to synthesize design, quality, use and color, which has made its furniture must-haves in the home.
‘Strips’ by Cini Boeri, the pop sofa that turns into a sleeping bag
A sofa based on upholstery and no longer on structure. This was the great revolution of the Strips model, designed for Arflex by Maria Cristina Mariani Dameno, better known as Cini Boeri (from her husband’s surname), the architect, a student of Gio Ponti, who died last September.
It is a historic piece of Italian industrial design, a beloved and award-winning best seller that has not ceased to gain acclaim and appreciation since its birth in the late 1960s, and to renew itself in successive interpretations.
Cini Boeri for this sofa of enormous versatility chooses a padding with non-deformable polyurethane to ensure the comfort of the seat, placed on a wooden core, and was the first to do so, then adding the quilt, the removable cover.
“It is used as a real shell to be unthreaded, washed, mutated, and re-threaded, and it zippers up like a dress over a polyurethane body,” wrote Cini Boeri in 1974.
The project was to be called ‘Christo,’ to pay tribute to the American artist who in the early 1970s packed the monument to Leonardo da Vinci in Milan’s Piazza della Scala. Hence the idea to do the same for the design of a new upholstery series.
Today the collection has evolved, and the Strips family consists of a complete series of upholstered items: two- and multi-seat sofas, ottomans, and various modular elements, all available in different sizes.
‘Marenco,’ 1970s sofa with soft, innovative shapes
Comfort, softness, experimentation and style. Although it was created in 1970, the Marenco sofa by Arflex continues to retain the characteristics that have made it a timeless icon of international design. Its author, after whom it is named, Mario Marenco, irreverence made architect, was an eclectic, ironic, countercultural character who translated his way of being, his vision, within his achievements.
Known to most as the face of television on irreverent and successful programs such as ‘High Appreciation’ and ‘Indietro Tutta,’ alongside Renzo Arbore, the designer from Foggia has left a remarkable contribution to the world of architecture and design. The sofa that bears his name, created for Arflex, is the result of continuous research and experimentation. In fact, it introduces a revolutionary system of assembling the cushions and armrests at the base.
The cushions are simply threaded a tubular metal frame that increases rigidity and strength, not to mention comfort, given by the maxi round shapes. The non-deformable, differentiated-density polyurethane foam padding then allows the body to sink in comfortably, while the internal tubular metal frame ensures proper support.
Mario Marenco thus wished to combine strength and comfort with the possibilities given by the use of metal tubing coupled with polyurethane upholstery. In 2007, the Marenco sofa won the Wallpaper Design Awards Best Reissues, thus becoming an immortal design object, so much so that to this day there are versions of it in different colors that make it even more modern and identifiable.
‘Frame’ by Carlo Colombo, a sofa with evergreen appeal
Comfort, functionality and aesthetics are the elements that distinguish ‘Frame,’ the iconic sofa designed by Carlo Colombo, an architect who, during his career, brought experimentation and made-in-Italy products to the world.
The products created for Arflex perfectly embody the union between its DNA and that of the Milan-based company. In the case of ‘Frame,’ the geometric lines, formal abstraction, and clean details, without sacrificing a minimal decorative language, make it a timeless and versatile sofa, capable of adapting to retro but also more modern style environments.
The seating system has a comfortable line and can be declined either in leather and fabric or in woven leather, an upholstery that makes it even more elegant and identifiable.
‘Hug love seat’ by Claesson Koivisto Rune, the sofa as cozy as a hug
“The embrace, the affectionate and welcoming gesture, most clearly visible in the ‘open arms’ position of the armrests, is intended as a universal invitation: come, sit for a moment and I will make you comfortable.” This is how Claesson Koivisto Rune, the Swedish architectural partnership founded in Stockholm in 1995 by Mårten Claesson, Eero Koivisto and Ola Rune, described the inspiration behind the ‘Hug Love Seat‘ sofa made for Arflex.
It is a wraparound model that becomes a comfortable and relaxing place to protect oneself from the hustle and bustle of life. The room where this small-sized sofa is placed, perfect even when there are no large spaces, gives the possibility to create an area in your living room that invites you to sit and relax.
The materials are precious: the frame and base are made of metal, while the profiles are made of wood stained Canaletto walnut, wenge or oak. The seat padding is molded polyurethane foam and the cover is polyester fiber, and the adjustable feet are black pvc.
Arcolor by Jaime Hayón, arched shapes and retro style
Taking up the classical geometry of the arch, the ‘Arcolor’ sofa that Madrid-based artist-designer Jayme Hayón designed for Arflex. This is a modular system that, unlike other similar square-looking models, was created by giving softness to the shapes, resulting in something organic.
The consistency of this approach also applies to the legs, with arches, touching the floor. A strong consistency and rhythmic repetition of forms reminiscent of the Roman aqueduct and well suited to a wide variety of contexts, both public and private, from living rooms to lobbies. Hayón strong in knowledge and taste for high-end craftsmanship with ‘Arcolor’ has created a design sofa destined to become iconic.
