German designer Katrin Greiling has created a collection of sofas inspired by nomadic Bedouin furniture for Dubai brand Traffic.

Called Bidoun, the pieces consist of stacked mattresses held together with a cord threaded through them to create sofas, ottomans and tables of varying heights, colours and fabrics.

The collection was developed for was developed for the Bidoun Magazine lounge as part of an event called ArtPark at ArtDubai 2009 earlier this year.

Here's some text from the designer:

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'Bidoun' is a furniture series - sofas ottomans, benches and tables - created for the Bidoun Lounge at ArtPark, ArtDubai 2009. In total, 15 pieces were designed and developed as part of the temporary space located at the car park of Madinat Jumeirah.

For this line, we decided to study nomadic Arabs (Bedouins) and use their furniture and lifestyle as our form of inspiration in developing contemporary interpretation of traditional Arab seating.

The sofa system involves several mattresses stacked on to a base and fixed by a cord and inspired by the stacking method usually applied.

The cord come from the same inspiration source - the Bedouin tent. It expresses the flexibility and mobility of the design. The seating height of the furniture can be adjusted by adding/removing mattresses and the appearance can be changed by flipping the mattresses, bringing a different fabric to the top.

A variation of the upholstery fabrics is chosen to reflect the random availability of patterns and is a symbol for traveling and the different cultures in the Middle East. Patterns and colours would change depending on the context.

This series is the 1st collection developed by Traffic and will be part of a contemporary line inspired by the Middle East. Heading this development is Katrin Greiling, Director of Industrial Design at Traffic.

Bidoun series
Year: 2009
Design: Katrin Greiling
Producer: Traffic