Redefining the sofa experience: maximum comfort and flexibility

Choosing a sofa has a social impact on human behaviour in space. Often the largest piece of furniture in the room, a sofa has the power to start conversations, provide comfort and even empower a user – and also do the opposite. In the words of Francesco Binfaré, author at Edra: ‘When a product has power, it contains innovation and intensity, it induces behaviour.’

For the globally renowned Italian design brand Edra, power comes in the form of providing movement, flexibility and adaptability in a sofa so each individual can achieve their own form of maximum comfort and freedom. Edra’s patented ‘Smart Cushion’ engineering, launched in 2013, accelerated this mission. It provides a flexible ‘landscape’ that, through its invisible structure, allows total freedom of position from formal to informal, appealing to all cultures and body shapes alike.

The body has always been a starting point for Edra, which was born in Perignano, Tuscany, in 1987 with the desire to create timeless sofas and armchairs of the highest design and stylistic quality. Monica Mazzei, Vice President at Edra, conceives sofa coverings as so intimate to the body and high quality in material and craft that they feel like layers of ‘ideal clothes’ – as seen in the polka dot sofa collection she presented for the first time in Milan in 1994 and at the Karsten Greve Gallery in Cologne in 1995.

The Smart Cushion further develops this connection: ‘A physical relationship is formed between the body and the movement of the sofa,’ says Binfaré. It all began during the Christmas holidays of 2011 when designer Francesco Binfaré sent a card to Valerio Mazzei, President of Edra, with an enclosed sketch synthesising his thoughts on the smart cushion. ‘When I opened it,’ explains Valerio Mazzei, ‘I realised I was in front of something amazing – a new story, a simple idea, a cushion that can be rotated 180 degrees forwards and backwards, stopping at any desired point.’

Binfaré says of his vision: ‘I imagined that the intelligence of movement that I love to devise, could be placed inside a large pillow and that this could become a standard element to be applied to the edges of a seat and function as an armrest and backrest. Thus I saw a system of seats, single, straight, curved, two-seater, three-seater, corner and with different angle shapes, boomerang, pentagonal to which to apply these large smart cushions that I called for myself “clumps of clouds”.’

These words denote the flexibility and freedom that the Smart Cushion exudes today. Since its launch in 2013, it can be found in sofa systems including Standard (2013), Essential (2016), the Chiara armchair (2017), Grande Soffice (2019), Standalto (2022) and Standway (2023). These sofas are specified by designers for a range of social interiors, including public spaces, like museums and galleries, where designing for inclusivity to welcome wide audiences is vital, especially in the 21st century. They are also well-suited for intimate private spaces, such as homes, where a deeper sense of personal expression can be found.

The deep relationship between Binfaré and Edra originally began in 1992 and always focused on the freedom of movement to obtain extraordinary comfort for every desire. For example, the Flap (2000) is a single sofa with nine parts that can be inclined as desired; while On the Rocks (2004) separates the backrest from the seat offering infinite possibilities of configurations. The Smart Cushion is just one of the many inventions and patents that Edra has contributed to the history of furniture, another including Gellyfoam®, a soft foam that comfortably accommodates any posture.

Often designers cannot predict how furniture might be used in space, but it takes a vision that is flexible, adaptable and therefore wholly inclusive to enable furniture to be used to its full potential. ‘I observe people, the change of habits. I even predict them, sometimes I influence them. The Smart Cushion interprets wishes that have not yet been expressed, but which are there,’ says Binfaré.

© Architonic

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