Nilufar Gallery

2017

“SoLong!” is an extendable and highly flexible sofa system composed of modular cushion + base units, designed according to Design-for-Disassembly principles. Each module features a bent and laser-cut aluminum base – which can also function as an independent shelf – paired with a nautical-grade polyurethane cushion and a removable, washable fabric cover in flax and fire-retardant PES. Despite its solidity, every element weighs just 1.5 kg, making the system effortless to transport, reconfigure, or store.

The project was presented in 2017 at Nilufar Depot in Milan, within a curated selection of works exploring new material approaches and reconfigurable furniture typologies. The space of the Depot — a hybrid between gallery, archive and architectural scenography — offered the ideal framework to highlight the system’s reversibility and spatial adaptability. “SoLong!” was exhibited not as a fixed sofa, but as an open grammar of components: a sequence of light, reconfigurable units inviting the visitor to imagine multiple arrangements rather than a single definitive form. The installation emphasized mobility, modularity, and the idea of furniture as a dynamic presence capable of adapting to shifting domestic rituals.

Nilufar’s curatorial setting reinforced the dialogue between experimentation and craft, placing the piece in conversation with contemporary Italian design research while framing it as a conceptual investigation into weightlessness, disassembly, and nomadic living. The project was received as a forward-looking interpretation of seating typologies, anticipating today’s growing interest in ultra-light, repairable and re scalable furnishings. The project originates from a research path focused on Design for Disassembly, investigating how furniture can be conceived as a set of reversible relations rather than a fixed object. The search for ultra-light, transportable and easily installable components led to a constructive logic in which every part is separable, replaceable and repairable over time.

The use of nautical-grade polyurethane was not only a technical solution for durability and outdoor resistance, but also a conceptual gesture: its buoyancy makes the entire structure literally floatable, reinforcing the idea of furniture designed for movement, impermanence and spatial freedom. The removable and washable textile cover completes the cycle of reversibility by making maintenance simple and continuous. “SoLong!” translates portability and assembly-in-situ into a contemporary seating system that privileges lightness, modularity and liberated forms of inhabiting.