12 Undeniably Cool and Creative Furnishings That Push the Boundaries of Design

Guaranteed to make people smile, Pumpkin has a prestigious past and has been shaking up spaces for 50 years. Pierre Paulin originally designed and produced this piece as a unique first edition from the private collection of former French president Georges Pompidou. This was in the late 1960’s at a time when Pompidou and Jean Coural—head of the Mobilier National, an agency of the French Ministry of Culture—were looking for a way to reinvigorate France’s industry and get the world to notice. As part of that effort, they hired a young Paulin to redo the president’s Élysée Palace apartment.

Paulin democratized the design in 2007 when he worked with Ligne Roset on this contemporary version of the chair. As suggested by its name, soft, organic, round shapes and firm comfort all characterize the Pumpkin collection. It's available as an armchair with or without a headrest and can come as a loveseat or sofa as well. An ottoman completes the historic collection.

Typically the design process surrounding a new sofa is heavily focused on aesthetic research. Prado represents a departure from this school of thought completely. Prado has first and foremost been designed based on the study of lifestyles and human nature.

It was created to accommodate the modern way people relax. Instead of watching a television straight ahead, tablets, laptops, and cellphones have changed the way we sit—enabling users to lie down or face any position they wish. Prado’s design makes these modern ways of lounging comfortable. Designed by Christian Werner, it has weighted cushions equipped with a non-slip system, allowing them to be moved in any position or even used on the floor and leaned against with no need for outside support.

Breaking it down, the sofa consists of a vast bench seat that can be combined and adjusted as desired (think: sectional-style) and onto which back cushions may be placed at will, so that one can sit or lie down as they wish. It offers complete freedom as these special cushions, weighted and equipped with a non-slip system, do not need to be rested against or attached to any object for support.

The Ruché bed brings together the unusual and the traditional. Inga Sempé designed it, blending hard and soft textures in an entirely inventive way. The designer married a streamlined solid wood structure with a warm and nostalgic home element: Quilting, the very heart of its savoir-faire. Its wooden stilts and the undulations of its duvet-like upholstery combine to produce a harmonious union of rigorous straight lines and soft, welcoming curves.

Plush and dreamy at first sight, the piece produces a wonderfully inviting effect, which is a must for bedroom design. Taking a timeless bedroom staple and giving it an unexpected twist, instead of a quilted blanket to sleep under, the Ruché bed plays on that idea and wraps the wooden base and headboard in an expertly tailored, foam-filled quilted cover.

Some may call Asmara out-of-this-world good, and publications back when it came out in 1967 would have to agree. Designed by Bernard Govin, Asmara is modular island seating created with a series of 4 shapes—large back, small back, concave, and convex—that can be composed together in infinite ways. "A new way of living!" was the 1968 introduction by American Vogue about Govin’s U.F.O. (Unidentified Flying Object), which beautifully embodies this floor-loving style of interior arrangement that has also been called ‘low look.’

Asmara defines itself as a modular settee in a stretch fabric, the concave shapes of which voluptuously hug the contours of the body in an aesthetically human design. After a long period during which it was only to be seen in the collections of the Musée des Arts décoratifs, Asmara is now making its big comeback, reintroduced in 2020 to the collection for the 160th anniversary of Ligne Roset.

Ligne Roset's innovative pieces are modern, yet timeless, as Asmara proves. Nostalgics, collectors, fans and above all visionaries will find this piece as current as ever, especially with its comfort further improved by the latest technologies from the Roset R&D department.

This is not your traditional sofa bed. In fact, Clam gives the concept a suave new twist of sophistication and cool. Dreamt up by young designers Léo Dubreil and Baptiste Pilato, Clam offers the comfort of a bed, the convenience of a sofa, and the contemporary creativity that Ligne Roset is known for. Clam is smoothly converted from sitting to sleeping with its easy-to-maneuver articulated ratchet system. Or, for all-day lounging, simply leave Clam open as an island for relaxation.

A brand new innovation, the technology to open and close Clam is a mechanism developed exclusively for Ligne Roset. It's a five-point articulation, enabling seven different ratcheting settings for the back. Clam is the only sofa bed on the market to use this kind of mechanism.

It is designed for users to sleep perpendicular to the sofa, allowing it to keep a trim shape. In recent years, the industry has seen a need in the market for sofa beds that are not only slim, but also beautiful to look at from all sides, with a minimal structure and easy-to-operate transformation system—and Ligne Roset brought all of this together in a creative and functional design with Clam.

Composed of high resilience polyurethane Bultex foam, the sofabed is comfortable no matter how you use it. This type of foam is ideal not only for the seated position, providing long lasting support and comfort, but also for sleep as a mattress, following the contours of the body very flexibly. This high-performance foam has an impressive memory function, 'remembering' its original shape and regaining it quickly after compression to keep it comfortable and chic for years, and even decades, of use.

Ligne Roset helps you make a bold statement outside, too. Saparella is a foam-based outdoor seating collection. A re-release of a pioneering model from 1965 by the late Michel Ducaroy (designer of the Togo), it consists of a fireside chair, a "diabolo" (central seating element) and a footstool. With its rounded, airy lines and flexible layout, it's an invitation to relax and to make the most of a beautiful day.

Its concave outline enables elements to be slotted together— into the convex fireside chair—to create a comfortable three-seat (or longer) sofa element made from two fireside chairs with a diabolo in the center. This composition is held together by a linking-piece made from mirror-polished stainless steel (also designed by Ducaroy).

Plumy was born over 40 years ago, dreamt up as a collaboration between Creative Director Michel Roset and Ligne Roset’s upholstery R&D department, specifically with in-house designer Annie Hiéronimus.

Truly encompassing the desires of one decade in particular, the inspiration for Plumy came from the 1980s and its ‘génération vautrée,’ a time of leisure and relaxation. It is said that Roset and Hiéronimus combined an all-foam base with goose feather top to provide Comfort with a capital ‘C,’ and incorporated unfolding cushions for Relaxation with a capital ‘R.’

The seat and back cushions unfold, making it possible to use Plumy for sitting, lounging, and laying at a straight, almost flat angle. This collection represents the expertise of all-foam seating, a concept launched by Ligne Roset in 1966, which has grown into the true spirit of the brand when it comes to upholstered seating.

New updates in technology allowed for the re-issue to be created in recent years using a more comfortable generation of high-resilience foams, and to be produced more efficiently due to Ligne Roset’s investment in perfecting the concept of all-foam seating.

For Nubo, designed by GamFratesi, an aesthetic awe comes from the unexpected encounter between retro déjà vu and a surprising new element. The simple space-saving wall shelf transforms into a precious box, reminiscent of a travel case, such as the Pan-Am blue case of the 1960s.

Its rounded cloud shape and its both light and warm association of natural oak and sky blue wool come from the same Scandinavian vintage registry. As both a secondary space-saving desk and a wall decorative element with a small footprint (5 1/2'' - 14 cm depth), Nubo offers in open position a functional work surface equipped with a cable pass-through slot and a bracket for documents.

Only a year old, this gorgeous chair came to be as a result of envisioning seating that would welcome guests in a high-end yet relaxed hotel bedroom. Designed by Ramy Fischler, Valmy was initially designed for such a location but, very quickly, its obvious simplicity and comfort escaped the strict confidentiality of hotel rooms to venture into many arenas, from luxurious residences to stylish restaurants.

The chair is a hyphen between timeliness and thoughtfulness. "We imagined it as the link between the sobriety that our time requires, and the elegance that does not care about trends that pass," explains designer Ramy Fischler, Founder of RF Studio.

Valmy beautifully showcases true craftsmanship and technical sewing skills, creating an elegant and tasteful chair to relax in. Ultra-welcoming, you can nestle cozily between its armrests for a refined weekend dinner party or settle in for emails in your home office.

New from the mind of designer Marie Christine Dorner, Grand Angle launched in 2021 and is the reinvented sectional. Ideal for contemporary living, the piece available as a modular system or as a single sofa. This deep, multifaceted seating collection is exceedingly comfortable thanks to its articulated back that can bend and fold over to support a variety of seating postures in different ways and countless configurations. Chic and innovative, its unique backrest allows for the back of the sofa to roll up and create a headrest or stay down to provide optimal lumbar support.

Undoubtedly, this piece is for the creature of comfort who also values style. Its comfort has been meticulously considered, with a combination of three components (Bultex foam, ultra-flexible foam, and feathers) on the seat. Thoughtfully chosen, these different materials combine to create unrivaled comfort. The softness, the bounce, the pleat—they all invite one to sit, to let go. Spill-friendly, Grand Angle is a great pick for an active family or for those with pets as the seat cushions and their covers are also removable for easy maintenance.

Who said storage can't be stylish? Released in 2022, the expanded Dita System allows you to create both bookcases and modular units, with the possibility of using them double-sided. Each piece of Dita is equipped with a handle matching the uprights of the structure. And, with a choice of 16 colors for the exterior faces (satin white, argile, perle, chocolat, noir, brique, elephant, moutarde, plomb, bleu nuit, brun acajou, cuivre, gris platine, vert sauge, bleu guède and coral), Dita System can combine with any color palette or design you dream up.

This new piece can find its place in your entrance, a living room, a workspace, or a bedroom. It's also possible to use the Dita System as a room divider since the back is as perfectly finished as the front.

It's impossible to talk about Ligne Roset's boundary-pushing furniture without mentioning their most iconic design: Togo. Created by Michel Ducaroy, it employs sculpted soft foam blocks as if they were marble, combining different densities of foam for comfort and support while adding a unique pleated cover (available in a large variety of fabric, leather, and microfiber upholsteries).

Many vivid descriptions fit this inventive piece. Ducaroy thought of his all-foam idea for Togo as “a tube of toothpaste folded over on itself like a stovepipe and closed at both ends.” When first introduced at the Salon des arts ménagers in 1973, the design world was doubtful about its quilted ‘pleating,’ which some compared to the crumpled look of a Shar-Pei’s wrinkles. But, the cult favorite design proved the need for non-conformity in seating and is still Ligne Roset’s best-selling item today.

Togo is still (and has always been) made and upholstered by hand in Ligne Roset’s factories in Briord, France, a skill only a select few have perfected over the years. In fact, each of Togo's folds are slightly different, capturing the unique hand of the artisan who makes it. Its upholstery demands traditional skill for which the human hand remains irreplaceable, executing the precise movements which produce the famous folds giving each piece of Togo its character and personality. For a large sofa, the entire upholstery process takes 4 hours for fabric covers, and almost 6 for leather.