In 2013, Barber and Osgerby debuted their first collaboration with Knoll at Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano, before introducing their eponymous collection to the market the following year. Inspired by Florence Knoll’s iconic sofa—which, in turn, borrowed the aesthetic vocabulary of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s oeuvre—Barber and Osgerby began the design process by considering the chair as an architectural object, “Architecturally, we wanted to refer to the famous Florence Knoll Sofa. So we created this architectural, delineated envelope which is also supremely comfortable.”
The chairs’ t-shaped legs are both a source of structure and support, fitting between the joints of the cushions to serve the dual purpose of foot and connector. The result is seamless design that does away with the frame, creating the appearance of a wholly integrated piece of furniture composed of several different components. For this reason, Osgerby contends, “The foot is really the icon of the sofa. It fits between each one of the arms and the seats, which are the architectural building blocks of the sofa."
