The Maserati and Zanotti lounge chair
What do furniture and cars have in common? Not a lot you would think but these car makers are proving otherwise. We look at five examples where car makers have stretched their design muscles to furniture.
1) Smart and BoConcept
As well as designing cars, the partnership between BoConcept and Smart also resulted in a furniture and homeware collection. The “smartville collection” of furniture and home accessories was jointly designed between the Danish furniture maker and Smart and reflects the colour scheme and materials of the Smart Fortwo BoConcept edition. The collection features a 2.69m sofa which corresponds exactly to the measurements of a Smart Fortwo. There is also a lounge chair, which incorporates many elements of a car seat, a coffee table and a range of accessories including tableware, special cushions and a table clock that customers will recognise from the cockpit of their Smart Fortwo.
2) Mercedes-Benz and Formitalia
Mercedes-Benz knows a thing or two about luxury interiors. They teamed up with Formitalia Luxury Group, a leading Italian designer furniture manufacturer in 2012 to launch a furniture collection in Milan. The collection included sofas, dining tables and beds. The pieces were crafted out of familiar automotive materials like aluminium, glass and wood, with styling details borrowed from car design.
3) Ford at the International Furniture Fair 2013
Ford took part in the leading furniture design show in Milan in 2013 and displayed a bespoke chair and lamp that they said reflected the company’s design DNA and the influence of furniture and fashion trends.
4) Maserati and Zanotta
Maserati teamed up with fellow Italian, furniture maker Zanotta, to produce the limited edition Maserati Lounge Chair by Zanotta. The chair was shown in Milan at the International Furniture Fair in 2013 and combines the values of the two brands – exclusiveness, sophistication, comfort, refinement of materials, shapes and details, avant-garde design and a very high level of craftsmanship in the production. The chair was designed in homage to the new Maserati Quattroporte.
5) Bentley Home Collection
Hot on the heels of a new capsule handbag collection, the luxury British carmaker has launched a furniture collection inspired by the craftsmanship and quality materials from Bentley car interiors. The collection includes sofas, chaise longues, armchairs, tables, cabinets and beds. The pieces come in a neutral colour palette of ivories and taupes and feature the unique quilted diamond pattern from a Bentley car. Exquisite!
14th November, 2013
