Eccentric Sofas: Extravagance, Boldness and High-End Craftsmanship
In the world of high-end furniture, some sofas don’t seek to be discreet. Sculptural, playful, or radically conceptual, they embody an aesthetic of perfectly assumed excess. Halfway between art, design and exceptional craftsmanship, here is a selection of spectacular creations signed by great names in contemporary design.
1. Organic and Soft Sofas
Curved forms, generous seating, cloud or bubble effect… These enveloping sofas express a search for visual as much as physical comfort, in highly expressive biomorphic lines.
Nuvola – Giovanetti
Nuvola evokes a cloud resting on the ground. Designed by the Italian studio Giovanetti, this armless seat displays a postmodern design with rounded forms. Multilayer wood, steel, high-density foam and removable upholstery compose this sofa that is as sculptural as it is comfortable. Count around €9,800.
Bubble – Sacha Lakic for Roche Bobois
Bubble is an iconic piece by Sacha Lakic, published by Roche Bobois. Its plump seat stretched in techno-stretch velvet perfectly hugs its curved volumes. A pop and sensual sofa, starting from €10,000 depending on finishes.
The Boca Sofa, Dali, 1936
The Boca Sofa, designed by Salvador Dalí in 1936, is one of the most iconic examples of surrealism applied to design. Inspired by the luscious lips of Mae West, the Hollywood actress, Dalí first created it as part of his famous “Mae West Room”—a space where the star’s face was recreated through furniture: curtains for hair, paintings for eyes, a fireplace for the nose, and this sofa for the mouth.
Photo: Sailko / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).
The most famous version, produced in collaboration with Oscar Tusquets for BD Barcelona Design in the 1970s, became an edited furniture piece, known as the “Dalí Lips Sofa.” Made of polyurethane covered in vivid red fabric, it captures Dalí’s trademark mix of sensuality, humor, and provocation.
Today, it stands as both an artwork and a design icon, a surrealist statement that turns desire into domestic form.
2. Modular and Asymmetrical Sofas
Here, the sofa becomes a system. The seats combine, interlock, organize according to uses and desires. A design conceived for adaptation, without sacrificing visual impact.
Confluences – Philippe Nigro for Ligne Roset
Confluences, designed by Philippe Nigro, assembles asymmetrical modules like a contemporary puzzle. Organic lines, mix and match of colors and infinite configurations — a piece that has become cult since 2009. Price: from €4,500 depending on fabric and configuration.
Organic modular sofa with customizable blocks. From €4,500.
Float – Karim Rashid for Sancal
With Float, designer Karim Rashid proposes a modular sofa with futuristic lines: high armrests, deep seats, removable “Cairo” headrests and oak legs. An assertive look, between interior architecture and statement furniture.
Sculptural sofa with customizable modules and integrated headrests.
3. Sculptural and Experimental Sofas
These creations overflow from the conventional framework of functional design. They flirt with contemporary art, installation, visual provocation. Often produced in small series, they embody the avant-garde of luxury furniture.
Boa – Fernando & Humberto Campana for Edra
Boa is a myth. Signed by the Campana brothers, this sofa entangled like a giant serpent has neither structure nor fixed form. Pure sensory object, it invites you to curl up in its interlacing of tubular velvet. Revealed at Salone del Mobile 2012, it is still published by Edra.
Quartz – CTRLZAK for D3CO
Studio CTRLZAK signs with Quartz a sofa with geometric facets inspired by minerals. Manufactured by D3CO, it is entirely ecological, without polyurethane foam or toxic glue — an aesthetic and sustainable UFO.
4. Creative Tributes to Classic Forms
Some models sublimate the historical forms of the sofa — meridienne, bergère, cabriolet — by diverting them with poetry or radicality. A reinvented tribute to the decorative codes of the past.
Ruché – Inga Sempé for Ligne Roset
Ruché, by Inga Sempé, reinterprets the sofa by combining a fine solid wood structure with light quilting with irregular pleats. Poetic, relaxed, but always chic — a piece that has become emblematic in the French design landscape.
Anfibio – Alessandro Becchi for Giovanetti
Cult design from the 1970s, the Anfibio by Alessandro Becchi is both sofa and bed, with an iconic soft folding mechanism. Still produced today by Giovanetti, it appeals to vintage design lovers and transformable piece enthusiasts. In premium leather, it exceeds €15,000.
Eccentric, but Always Luxury
These sofas don’t aim for consensus. They capture gazes, shake norms and assume their singularity. Behind their bold forms hide highly technical know-how, noble materials, and strong creative intention. This is also true luxury: the audacity to be inimitable.
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- Discover more luxury furniture designers
- Explore our contemporary design guide
- Browse high-end interior trends
Digital entrepreneur and craft artisan, I use my unconventional background to share my vision of luxury design and interior decoration — one enriched by craftsmanship, history, and contemporary creation. Since 2012, I have been working daily in my workshop on the shores of Lake Annecy, creating bespoke interiors for discerning decorators and private clients.
