Know Your Sofas: The Soriana Sofa

In November of 1969, Cesare Cassina, the founder of the Italian furniture brand Cassina contacted the husband and wife team of architects and designers Tobia and Afra Scarpa with an urgent request. He asked if they could design a new type of sofa, something unique that had not been seen before, to enter into competition at an important trade show in Germany in January. With only a little over a month, they came up with the remarkable Soriana sofa (which also comes with coordinating chairs!).

Taking advantage of new techniques in forming expanding polyurethane foam, they envisioned a sofa with no internal structure. Instead, it took its form from tines of discreet metal bracing curving up from the base. This allowed the upholstery to wrap around the shape of the sofa. Tobia recounted, "At the beginning, the workers did not understand that the leather covering was not supposed to be taut . . . but to appear like a soft, creased fabric curled around this soft mass and held together by a sort of giant metal spring." Well, the look of the Soriana was beguiling enough for it to win the prestigious Compasso d’Oro award at the trade show!

The silhouette of this sofa is still beguiling designers and homeowners alike even today. Designer Rodman Primack put a Soriana suite in his Mexico City home he shares with his husband Rudy Weissenberg.

Photo: Stephen Kent Johnson

Kelly Wearstler put one (with chairs!) in her Malibu home...

And Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent have one in their Los Angeles residence.

Photo: Douglas Friedman

The sofa (and chairs!) are still in production and can be purchased from Cassina.

Happy designing!

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