Paula Brook
Sun
Look down, look way down. In the middle of the living room, where the sofa and a couple of arm chairs used to sit (big enough for two to curl up in, as Friendly used to say), we’re now seeing a collection of cushions and bolsters and ottomans big enough for several people to stretch out on.
There’s a sea change in how we sit, say the decor people. In the modernist lexicon, even the word “sofa” seems obsolete. The new term is “seating system,” though you tend to see the beautiful people in the glossy advertisements lounging more than sitting on their low-profile, Euro-styled sectionals. Turn the page and they’re fast asleep on their modular cushions in the glow of a flat-screen TV.
So much for getting any reading done at night, you might say. Or in the afternoon. Pull up a sectional and have a sleep!
Which doesn’t sound all bad, compared to the stiff-backed parlours and plastic-coated living rooms of bygone times. In fact, there are very good and practical reasons for the sectional sofa’s return to glory, three decades after it made its debut in the conversation pit of early modernism. Then, as now, North Americans were in the midst of social upheaval — feeling raw in the wake of a war gone wrong. In dire need of sectional healing, you might say. At home, with loved ones, in front of a blazing fire — or at the very least, a hot video.
So says Nancy Bendtsen, co-owner of Inform Interiors and Bensen Inc., which makes modern furnishings, including a variety of sectional systems. “There’s been a distinct change in the way people buy furniture since 9/11,” she told me. “People realize that they want to be really comfortable and secure in their homes. The nice thing about a sectional is when you have a group of friends over, you’re close and facing one another. It’s an extremely sociable way to sit.”
Or to sprawl, luxuriously. One of the most striking systems on the market is the Mah Jong, designed in the ’70s by Hans Hopfer for Roche Bobois in Paris, now in its eighth stunning edition. In Europe, the sectional, like modernism itself, has never actually gone out of fashion.
“It’s more of a Rubik’s Cube than a sofa,” says Lesley McDonnell, who recently reopened Vancouver‘s downtown Roche Bobois store. She has given the Mah Jong system pride of place in the brightly renovated Hastings Street showroom, where the hand-sewn cushions, richly upholstered in Kenzo Maison, exert a magnetic power over furniture browsers.
Which is precisely the lure of lowdown lounging, and why Hopfer named it Mah Jong. Like the earthy symbols of the Chinese tile game, this seating system lies close to the ground and invites meditation, if not outright hibernation. In fact, among the dozens of ways you can configure these cushions, which cost anywhere from $700 to $2,000 each, depending on fabrication, is a four-cushion-square king bed — the perfect solution for an upscale den-cum-guest-room.
You can also stack the cushions two-up to create traditional-height seating, then use singles as ottomans or as a base for your coffee tray. It’s the haut-couture version of the old Moroccan bazaar, suggesting a kind of hitch-your-camel-and-rest-awhile ambience conducive to intimate conversation and boisterous partying and everything in between.
McDonnell calls it “the new art of sitting” — a perfect match for the laid-back West Coast lifestyle. “What our clients are often looking for is low-profile seating that suits open-plan homes, that doesn’t block their views and looks good from every angle,” she notes. “We’re no longer just pushing the sofa up against the wall.”
Nor do we want static rooms where the furniture dictates where and how we sit. The smartest sectionals being designed today can turn on a dime — from loveseat to chaise to arm chair with ottoman. Indeed, Smart is the name of a bright new model from Montreal designer Normand Couture’s Cameleon collection.
“We think of it as a playground for the living room,” says Alan Wilson, owner of Industrial Revolution where you can buy the Smart system (from $5,000 for a small-room setting). “With chairs and tables and a bookshelf combined, it’s almost to the point where you never have to leave your sofa,” laughs Wilson.
That kind of compact flexibility especially suits Wilson‘s condo clientele who want to make the most of small spaces. “Most people don’t have the luxury of an extra room for watching TV or accommodating guests or whatever. A sofa can’t just be a sofa anymore. It’s like, okay, what else can it do?”
Because the Smart modules slide along a wooden trestle, with movable arm and back rests, it can do a lot, easily. End tables pop out, cushions slide apart and presto — two chairs with a coffee table. Take all the bolsters off your sofa and you’ve got a guest bed with night table.
The Modern Addiction system by Thayer Coggin of High Point, N.C., carried at EntreNous in Yaletown, arguably does more. Its eight modular pieces carving graceful curves and angles out of even the squarest room ($7,500 for a small, simply upholstered system to $20,000 for the works in Ultrasuede).
As a bonus, the set’s ottoman opens up for storage, creating more space and better views, the two top priorities of modern decorators, according to EntreNous designer Lorie Grant.
“The original sectionals were big and chunky,” notes Grant. “The best new ones are lower and lighter. They seem to float in space.” Her customers likewise opt for minimal accessories, preferring small multi-function sidepieces and using ottomans as coffee tables.
None of which solves the really pressing question Grant hears again and again from clients: Where do we hide the TV? Stay tuned.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005