Steeped in sophistication: the Tearoom series from MENU

Danish design brand MENU creates products suited to a wide range of interior settings, from contemporary co-working spaces to classically inspired living rooms. The recently launched Tearoom Series exemplifies how the company’s Scandinavian aesthetic is equally at home in modern and period schemes. The collection manages to look both simple and timeless, as well as being casual and comfortable.

Like many of MENU’s designs, the versatility of the Tearoom Series is due to its use of pared-back forms and lack of extraneous detailing. The Tearoom Lounge Chair, Tearoom Club Chair and Tearoom Sofa combine the luxurious feel of full upholstery with a simple silhouette, which the brand claims helps them to “radiate elegant yet strict femininity”.

Scottish designer Nick Ross was influenced by the Willow Chair, designed in 1904 by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for the Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow. “Like many of Mackintosh’s furniture designs, the Willow Chair is more about visual impact than comfort,” Ross suggests. “Seeing this untapped potential, I wanted to try and evolve the essence of the Willow Chair to create a more fully resolved product.”

Ross, who is based in Stockholm, translated the enveloping form of the Willow Chair into a range of pieces defined by gently curving lines that cocoon the sitter. The shape is achieved using a wooden frame that is covered with foam and upholstered in a range of fabric options for optimum comfort. The designer describes the resulting products as “sitting somewhere in the middle between a purely sculptural expression and a functional, utilitarian object,” adding: “The balance makes it universal in form and function, and gives it staying power.”

© Architonic