Isole Modular Seating System

The Isole modular seating system is a simple, endearing design co-created by Japanese firm Nendo and Italian design studio Nichetto, whose close connection defied the geographical distance between them.
Nendo founder Oki Sato and Nichetto founder Luca Nichetto applied the principles of Tanka, a traditional Japanese poem, to design Isole, the Italian word for islands. According to Sato, “With Tanka, one person starts the poem and another person completes it. I sent Luca rough sketches via my iPhone of soft shapes like pebbles or islands.” “When I saw the islands I realized that they were missing bridges,” adds Nichetto. “I’m from Venice, a city of archipelagos connected by bridges. So I sent back sketches of armature as a bridge to connect the islands.”
One look at Isole and the visual connectivity is instant and enthralling. A pebble-shaped “island” moulded from CMHR foam and upholstered in stretch fabric appears as the back, seat and arm rests. Together they are affixed to a powder-coated steel base featuring low, slim legs with a floating on water effect. Available in all kinds of combinations and configurations, each seating unit comes with or without arm rests. Add to that the option of a laminated round, square or rectangular side table discretely integrated into the design.
“For me, Isole embodies the idea of comfort and connectivity, which is what everyone looks for in a sofa,” says Martin Kornbek Hansen, CEO of &tradition. “Nendo and Nichetto initially connected over a coffee and proceeded to virtually co-author the sofa together. Their different perspectives came together as one vision, one entity. Like the singular seating of the sofa itself – which connects with other “islands” via their brilliant “bridges”. A simple organic design that also echoes aspects of nature, which runs deep in our Danish DNA at &tradition.”