Ten plump furniture designs including chubby chairs and bloated benches
Furniture designers are ditching the skinny look for plump forms that appear to have been pumped full of air. In our latest roundup, we look at 10 designs that represent the chubby trend.
Bloated curves, chubby upholstery and stout legs feature in a trend first identified by Dezeen columnist Michelle Ogundehin in her predictions for 2020.
"In perhaps a seemingly counter-intuitive twist to all this streamlining and sustainability, furniture is getting decidedly chubbier," wrote Ogundehin, listing plus-size products as one of her trends for the year.
"But then curvy, rounded and plump designs are the literal expression of comfort; when we seek solace, it is not to a stiff-backed chair that we intuitively turn."
This plumping-up of domestic furniture could be down to the need to feel cocooned, Ogundehin wrote. "In times of strife, we need to be able to sink deeply into our sofas and feel them cosset and surround us," she said, pointing to the rise of home offices as an accelerator of the trend.
"Even the resolutely trim'n'taut high-end Italian brands like Minotti have taken a punt on the fat side," she added.
Two cushioned elements join together to form Domna, a chair designed by Ukrainian design brand Faina to echo the form of ancient divine feminine figurines.
Orsetto 02 by Martin Massé for Studio Twenty Seven
New York gallery Studio Twenty Seven commissioned Martin Massé to make Orsetto 02, a coffee table with the cutesy style of an overstuffed teddy bear, despite being carved out of unyielding stone.
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Chinese furniture brand Maisondada's Sumo chair is a stout armchair with a wrinkled backrest that is named after Japan's famously bulky professional wrestlers.
American designer Misha Kahn's Pig of the Sea is an oversized sofa made from amorphous shapes covered in brightly coloured cashmere.
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Panda by Monica Förster for Modus
Swedish designer Monica Förster created the Panda range for British furniture brand Modus, including this rotund chaise.
Swedish retailer Svenskt Tenn commissioned Stockholm-based design studio TAF to create Famna, a plump, low sofa inspired by an old-fashioned roll top bath.
New York studio Müsing-Sellés created this bench to look like a digital render, using white stone to create the chubby seat that's divided by an angled pane of glass.
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Austrian design duo Studio Sain worked with a traditional woodturner to create Bulbous, an aptly-named collection of wooden light fixtures that reference a Paleolithic sculpture known as the Venus of Willendorf.
Sundae Lounges by Jason Ju
Sydney-based industrial designer Jason Ju created the Sundae Lounges seating range of pudgy chairs and sofas that are designed to be welcoming.
Hortensia began life as a 3D render, but when the picture of the cloud-like chair went viral, Argentinian designer Andrés Reisinger used 20,000 fabric petals to make it a reality.
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