Sancal's Futura collection is based on 1960s sci-fi space stations
Dezeen promotion: Spanish brand Sancal has launched a "retro-futuristic" collection of furniture, featuring tables, chairs and ornaments that reference 1960s science fiction films (+ movie).
The Futura collection, which was exhibited by Sancal during this year's Milan design week, is modelled on the set designs of movies such as the 1968 epic 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Spanish design studio Nadadora contributed a swivelling chair with a pouf and table. Named Tortuga, translating as tortoise, the chair is based on the animal's shell. It features a curved back and headrest designed to envelop the user.
Also included in the exhibit was the Tonella chair by Stockholm-based Note Design Studio, which was first launched last year.
The chairs, including one- and two-seater versions, were designed to look like the barrels found in Yecla, the wine-making area of southern Spain where Sancal is based.
Vertical supports mimic the thin gaps between staves, while the outer area is quilted to follow the lines of the base of a barrel.
Sebastian Herkner's collection of bistro and coffee tables are supported by a base that looks like a large stone emerging from the ground.
Called Vesper, the tables also have a smooth table top, like a wooden cutting board, to create a welcoming environment for restaurants.
Limited-edition sculptures were created by artists José Ángel Rodríguez Corral and Miriam Hernández Ros of Número 26.
Conceived as decorative items imagined by someone at the dawn of the Space Age, Número 26 created four pieces for the Futura Objects collection. They include classical figures with heads encased in space helmets and a glass box called Magic Pills Delicatessen.
Also featured in the collection is the Duplex coffee table, designed by Spanish brand Mut to reference the Modernist architecture of Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright.
The designs were presented at Milan's Salone del Mobile furniture fair, which took place from 12 to 17 April 2016. For more information about the products, visit the Sancal website.
Previous products by the brand include furniture that pieces together like a puzzle and a suspended acoustic shade designed for meeting rooms.
Read on for more information from Sancal:
Sancal leaves us weightless and breathless
As the fashion for all things silver and shiny is reflected in furniture design, Sancal reminds us of where it all began. The exhibition during this year's Milan design week blasted us back to the space age and its stylish futurism.
Inspired by the futuristic architecture of the 1960s, especially that featured in films like 2001 A Space Odyssey, Sancal's new collection imagines a space station that will help to create a new look for a new, more positive age.
Travelling in space should be both elegant and comfortable, for example the Tortuga easy chairs are ideal for whiling away the hours or swivelling into action in an instant.
The loneliness of space was offset by the station's breakout areas featuring the Tonella mini lounge chairs and Duplex coffee tables.
All journeys are, one way or another, a search for exotic new artefacts: so within Sancal's Futura collection you will find a specially commissioned set of pieces that play on the retro-futuristic theme.
The future has yet to arrive, the future is in our hands, we are the future, the future is the here and now.