The first idea for the Soft Stone Sofa emerged in Parque da Cidade in Porto. During the pandemic, Gabriel Tanobserved people lingering and chatting on large, staggered Stone blocks. This image sparked a desire to transfer the monumental permanence of natural stone to a soft, comfortable piece of furniture.
At the same time, the sculptural Vision of the artist Isamu Noguchi informed the design. Tan is fascinated by the way Noguchi lends an apparent softness to hard materials – an aesthetic he deliberately inverts with the Soft Stone Sofa. The individual modules combine the solid, monolithic presence of interlocking Stone forms with unexpectedly supple upholstery.
The result is a series of organic, geometric sculptures that elegantly bridge the Worlds of fine art and functional comfort.
Although the form was originally inspired by nature, I sought to develop a systemic logic for the design.
