Living Divani Echoo System seating

Description

Echoo System unfolds in fluid, modular configurations that evolve with the space around them. Piero Lissoni describes the sofa as fairly classical with one unconventional element, very low, and able to fold over on one side like a slightly distorted echo. It was born straight, he says, and then it was distorted. The shell encompasses the entire piece, enclosing even the cushions, so a composition reads as one harmonious ensemble.

Design Inspiration & Philosophy

Lissoni has been art director at Living Divani since the late 1980s, and Echoo belongs to the quietest part of that output. The distortion is the entire idea. A straight sofa bends at one point, and the bend is where the beauty sits. Nothing else in the piece asks for attention, which is what the company means by silent elegance. The design declares itself through proportion rather than gesture.

The Shell

A continuous upholstered shell wraps the structure and holds the cushions inside its perimeter rather than letting them sit on top. The result is an unbroken outline from every angle, which is why the sofa can float in the middle of a room without presenting a back that needs hiding. Its low height reinforces the effect, keeping sightlines open right across an interior.

Modular Configurations

Elements combine into arrangements running from open and informal to structured and architectural. Integrated top elements can be worked into a composition wherever a surface is needed, and foot options adjust the piece to the floor and the scheme. Everything is made to order, so a composition is drawn to a plan rather than assembled from stock.

Construction and Comfort

The load bearing frame is poplar plywood, fir and multilayer wood, with a seat frame in powder coated steel sprung on rubber covered elastic webbing. Seat cushions use differentiated density polyurethane foam. Armrest and back cushions add washed goose down held in separate compartments, which is what gives the piece its yielding surface. Sofa seat depth is 69 cm, and covers in fabric or leather come off completely.

Perfect For

– Minimal interiors where the sofa should complete rather than compete

– Architects fitting seating to an unusual architectural volume

– Open plan rooms where the sofa floats clear of any wall

– Clients who want down filled comfort inside a restrained form

– Schemes that will be reconfigured over the coming years

– Households needing covers that come off for cleaning

Echoo is a straight sofa that changes its mind at one point along its length. Lissoni built an entire system on that single deviation, and the logic holds all the way through.