Milan 2011: Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune presented this series of sofas with different-height backrests for Italian brand Tacchini in Milan last week.

Intended to be grouped in clusters for contract interiors, the Highlife series comprises seats with the same arms, frames and cushions but interchangeable backs.

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The information below is from the designers:

HIGHLIFE seating collection

The basic sofa as landscape.

A family of sofas and easy chairs – fairly simple in form – with one prominent feature: different heights of the backrest. A family of furniture that creates dynamic spaces within interiors when used in contract spaces such as hotels etc.

The high backrest is today something that has gotten a renewed interest in the contract market, since the need of privacy has arrived with the use of cellphones, laptops, iPads, e-readers, etc.

However, most of the current designs often have three of their four sides high, giving a box-like appearance, ”closing off” these pieces into individual cocoons. We believe this is excessive. In our opinion, the greatest need is actually for visual privacy from behind.

By giving each piece in a small collection – where many of the components, such as armrests, pillows and seat cushions, are essentially the same – a different backrest height creates an interesting visual dynamic.

Backrest comfort can be created with a double row of loose pillows. This eliminates the need for a perfect backrest angle.

Detailing

Within our design team are people with tailoring experience. During the development of HIGHLIFE we played with familiar fasteners from clothing. Columns of buttons on the armrests and backrest are the result of this idea.

This detailing, together with carefully selected fabrics – chunkier for the backrest, smoother for the armrests and seat – help strengthen the appearance of the sofas as being ‘well dressed’, a bit like an elegant city gent.